Delays at the Health Ministry's quarantine station at Ashdod port are causing a significant increase in the cost of many goods.
All sensitive food products that arrive in Israel are required to receive Health Ministry approval; however, due to a manpower shortage, these products are now taking upwards of two weeks to be released instead of the regular two days. Importers, who are being required to pay steep fines due to refrigeration costs while their goods await approval, are rolling these costs onto the Israeli consumer.
These foods include dairy products such as cheeses and ice cream, fruits and vegetables, mineral water, fish, meat, and more.
As a reminder, there has been a recent manpower shortage at the old ports while the new port is only operating on a limited basis due to disagreements between the state and the powerful port workers unions, resulting in long lines of cargo ships waiting to be unloaded.
"The situation is a catastrophe. As of now, we're talking about a delay of two and half weeks," said one importer of sensitive foods. "We've reached the point of [financial] damage to the importers. They have no choice but to insert these costs in the final mark-up to the consumer. It costs 120$ per day to refrigerate these shipping containers."
Officials in the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce say that hundreds of containers, with food products estimated to be worth tens of millions of shekels, are stuck at Ashdod port as a result of these delays. According to the FICC, Health Ministry officials last Thursday examined and processed goods that had arrived three weeks prior, despite conditions of service that stipulate they are supposed to be released within 48 hours.
In light of the situation, FICC regulatory manager for food and beverages, Amir Ofer, submitted an inquiry with Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash, asking why the ministry's food inspectors were being allowed to go on vacation during the upcoming Passover holiday.
"How can we expect this holiday to end with anything but even worse delays than we have now?" Ofer wrote.
The Health Ministry said in response: "We are working on several tracts to provide a solution. We activated a virtual quarantine station that allows us to increase the number of supervisors dealing with the release of food products."
