“Buy Galician” campaign launched at local markets

Posters are going up at all of Majorca's markets to encourage consumers to purchase products from Galicia this Christmas to help the region recover from the Prestige oil spill. The buy Galician campaign was launched yesterday by Demetrio Peña in association with the Majorcan Association of Galician Companies and the association of Fish and Seafood Markets. Posters with the slogan “This Christmas Galician and Majorcan products” are going to be slapped up across the island to help Galicia's small shopkeepers and fishing communities. Francisco Bauzà, president of the Majorcan association of fishmongers said that apart from the environmental damage the oil spill has done, it has also had a psychological effect on consumers, similar to the one Majorcan lamb and beef producers had to overcome because of the outbreak of the Blue Tongue virus and “mad cow” crisis. Already there has been a 60 per cent fall in sales of Galician products across Spain, despite the fact that some of the country's best sea food comes from the region. At present, Majorcan fishmongers are expecting to sell just ten to 20 tons of sea food over the next few weeks, when normally, as much as 80 tons, much of it from Galicia, would be sold. Francisco Bauzá said that the sea food arriving from Galicia is of the maximum quality. “The Balearics have nothing to worry about, Galician sea food is of the maximum quality and has to pass strict health and safety checks,” he said. The same was said about local beef and lamb, but it still took a long time for the markets to recover.