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Fez – An online campaign in which social media users expose “shocking” secrets about working conditions in several industries has gained considerable attention in the past few days.
The hashtag, #سر_مهني (Arabic for “professional secret”) has caught social media users off guard. Workers and professionals unveiled well-kept and often “shocking” practices in the workplace, in different sectors ranging from the restaurant industry and dairy production to banking and small businesses.
Whether they intended to lure, deceive, or cheat the customer, the shocking practices were deemed appalling by the Moroccan public, shaking their trust in Moroccan products in general.
Lack of food safety and poor-quality products were the main themes of the widely circulated hashtag as employees shared distressing experiences at work on the issues, challenging acclaimed companies and providing customers with recommended tips so as to avoid falling victim to such practices in the future.
“I work at a restaurant in Marina Bay. We fry fish at 10 a.m. and leave it in the open till 11 p.m. If there was anything left, we heat it up on the next day [and present it to customers]. The same goes for chicken. Nothing goes to the dumpsters,” a commenter said.
The unidentified commenter went on to point out that the restaurant’s apparent lack of hygiene has even reached the visitors’ plates.
“We also have the long-standing cockroach problem. Clients often find it on their meals, and they complain but in vain. The restaurant’s daily income is MAD 100.000 [$10.000] yet all of Casablanca eats cockroach eggs,” they admitted.
Some pointed out the prevailing copycat branding in the Moroccan market, stressing that several products are cheap imitations of the original products. Manufacturers counterfeit the original product under the same brand and then put it on sale for relatively the same price as the original.
Read also: Morocco Shuts Restaurant After Customers Discover Worms in Tagine
Meanwhile, others even went on to advise Moroccan consumers not to buy certain products, detailing their adverse effects on one’s health and recounting exclusive “facts” about the story behind some of the most widely-consumed products in Morocco.
“I’d like to advise people to depart from consuming lunch meat in all its forms as it is the main cause of cancer and every terminal illness. I work in a meat production unit, especially poultry production. I remember that once the poultry production unit got a serious illness. Chicken’s backside turned blue and its droppings left a disgusting smell that no one could stand,” one of the commenters said, adding that “at it is known no one would get rid of 40.000 chicken or more for nothing in return.”
The unidentified commenter further noted that the company’s solution to prevent losing the significant capital was that a “country’s leader in luncheon meat production buys the infected chicken and turn it into cold cuts.”
The worker’s testimony shocked social media users, with many denouncing the unknown company’s lack of professionalism and breach of food safety.
Anguished by what they have read here and there, Moroccans called the country’s National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) to open a nationwide investigation following the shocking testimonies of several employees in different industries.
The hashtag comes a few weeks after Moroccan authorities closed down a restaurant located in the Ouzoud Falls region near Azilal for breaching food safety rules.
The restaurant had served a tagine dish with meat containing worms to a couple who took to social media to complain about the restaurant’s breach of food safety.
Video of the incident went viral once it was posted online and stirred outrage among Moroccan netizens.
The latest hashtag “Professional Secret” has once again unearthed the heated public debate about food safety and quality control in various vital industries, shaking off the Moroccan consumer’s trust in local products.
