Algeria returns wheat shipment to France after finding two dead pigs inside

Algeria has rejected a shipment of 27,000 tonnes of French milling wheat, declaring it unfit for consumption after discovering two dead pigs inside the cargo.

Algerian authorities are seeking compensation for the shipment, which has been returned to France, the country’s agriculture minister said.

Pig carcasses were discovered last week in two separate batches of cargo, Abdelhamid Hamdani said in a press conference.

The French supplier has been blacklisted, the minister added.

As well as the sanitary issue with the contaminated shipment, strict measures were applied because of the type of dead animal found, local reports suggested. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims, and the consumption of pork is strictly forbidden in Islam.

Algeria - a Muslim majority country - is one of the world's biggest wheat importers and France is one of its main suppliers.

This week’s discovery deals a blow to French wheat suppliers, whose market share in Algeria has dwindled this year amid reduced domestic supply from a weaker harvest and competition from rivals.