Photo: Getty
The United States has temporarily suspended avocado imports from Mexico after an American safety inspector allegedly received a threatening phone message.
In astatementfrom Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Saturday, the organization announced that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture had “decided to pause avocado inspection activities in [the Mexican state of] Michoacán.”
“U.S. health authorities … made the decision after one of their officials, who was carrying out inspections in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a threatening message on his official cellphone,” Mexico’s Agriculture Department said in its statement.
The statement added that imports are suspended “until further notice,” and an investigation has begun to look into the incident.
Inspectors from the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services inspect avocados in Mexico to make sure the shipments that come into the country don’t carry diseases that could affect stateside avocado crops, theAssociated Pressreported.
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Michoacan, according toCNN, is the only Mexican state that is authorized to export avocados into the United States.
In the statement from Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the group noted that within the last six weeks “avocado producers from Michoacán have exported more than 135 thousand tons of avocado to the United States, through more than five thousand shipments of fresh fruit.”
They were able to achieve the feat after certifying “49,005 orchards with an area of 152,712 hectares to export avocado from Michoacán to the country in the season that runs from October 15, 2021 to April 14, 2022,” the organization added.
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The import suspension came about just ahead ofSuper BowlSunday, which, the AP reported, is when consumption for the food surges. It marks “the biggest sales opportunity of the year” for growers in Mexico.
Avocados From Mexico even debuted a commercial in the Big Game, with celebrity spokesperson Andy Richter.
The outlet noted, however, the suspension did not affect the consumption of avocados on the actual day of the game as those avocados had already been shipped to the United States.
source: people.com
