Swedish grocery chain stops selling Western Sahara tomatoes
Article image

"It turns out that the tomatoes are from Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara, so we are not going to sell them anymore. These things are not supposed to happen", stated media officer Ingmar Kroon at the Swedish grocery chain Axfood.

Published 03 May 2010

It was the Swedish magazine 'Västsahara¨which in April this year discovered cherry tomatoes from the firm Azura in a shop in Gothenburg. The shop belonged to the grocery chain Axfood, with 225 shops in Sweden. 

Azura is a French-Moroccan business producing vegetables in Agadir and in the the occupied town of Dakhla in southern parts of Western Sahara.

"I know the Western Sahara issue well. Of course we should not sell products from an occupied territory", said Axfood's media officer Ingmar Kroon to the Swedish magazine.

When Axfood carried out its first control, they were told that the tomatoes were from "Southern Morocco", but when looking further into the issue, they discovered they were from Dakhla. Azura stated to Axfood that EU's agreement with Morocco also covers Western Sahara.

"But we are not of that opinion", stated Mr. Kroon. 

In 2009, Azura tomatoes were discovered also in the shops of Coop in Norway and Sweden. Coop Norway then promised to halt all furthher imports. Coop Sweden announced that their tomatoes, on the other hand, only came from Agadir - not Dakhla.

8000 people work in the Azura's giant green houses in Dakhla, most of all producing tomatoes and melons for exports. 
 

Enel dodges question on project in occupied territory

A decade after it was first announced, the fate of one of Enel’s wind farms in occupied Western Sahara remains uncertain.

27 October 2025

Global Diligence defends operations on occupied land

The legal advisory firm Global Diligence, which presents itself as expert on ‘heightened due diligence’, misrepresents international law in occupied Western Sahara.

16 October 2025

MEPs shocked by Commission's Western Sahara bypass

In a hearing at the European Parliament earlier this week, lawmakers expressed outrage at how the Commission sidestepped them to push through a new agreement covering occupied Western Sahara, in violation of EU Court rulings.

10 October 2025

EU pushes secretive Morocco trade deal covering Western Sahara

As EU ambassadors give their green light to a new Morocco trade deal, the public is still denied access to the very agreement they are voting on - a striking case of secrecy in Brussels.

01 October 2025