Extracted phosphate is transported by conveyor belt to a storage area at the Sidi Chennane open-pit phosphate mine, in Morocco's Khouribga phosphate basin, on June 30, 2026. At a phosphate mine in Morocco, an excavator tears into the earth to extract a mineral that is at the centre of Europe's growing concern over cadmium in the food chain. Morocco holds vast reserves of phosphate, a key ingredient in fertilisers. And state-owned OCP, which has a monopoly over the country's phosphate industry, says it has developed technology to reduce the amount of cadmium in its products.Phosphate often contains naturally occurring cadmium -- a heavy metal harmful to living organisms -- that can seep into farmland and eventually to food through fertilisers. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP via Getty Images)