Algerians rejected potatoes unfairly, PEI exporter says

Concerns about bacteria-infested potatoes from Quebec have prompted lurid fears in Algeria and forced a cargo vessel to leave port without unloading its shipment.

The exporter is desperately trying to find another country willing to accept the shipment. If she cannot find a buyer, she said yesterday, hundreds of tonnes of ring-rot-infected potatoes will likely be thrown overboard.

Her shipment is at the centre of a bizarre saga that has the exporter claiming a conspiracy against Quebeckers and has Prince Edward Island growers worried about guilt by association.