The US has suspended all imports of Mexican avocados as fears have been growing around the extortion of workers by drug cartels.
On Saturday, February 12, Mexico's Agriculture Department confirmed that all avocado imports have been suspended by the US as a result of an American plant inspector being threatened.
Michoacán - the only state left in Mexico which was fully allowed to export to the US market and the location of rival cartels, Jalisco Cartel and United Cartels - will now not be able to export such goods 'until further notice'.
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Mexico's Agriculture Department explained that an official of the US health authority had received a 'threatening message,' Fox News reports.
It stated: '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.'
The decision came just a day before the Super Bowl, which took place at the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles.
The Super Bowl reportedly offers the biggest sales opportunity of the year for avocado growers in Mexico.
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In a bid to push the association between the Super Bowl and eating of guacamole, exporters of the fruit from Mexico have been known to take out expensive adverts, with one having been released on the same day the ban was announced.
The ad depicts Julius Caesar and gladiators fighting, before harmony is restored though the sharing of avocados and guac.
However, thankfully, the ban came too late to negatively impact the importation of avocados ahead of the Super Bowl, which is estimated as being an industry worth nearly $3 billion in annual exports.
Turf wars previously impacted the exportation of avocados in August 2019, when a team of inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture team (USDA) were allegedly 'directly threatened' and robbed at gunpoint in Ziracuaretiro, a town just west of Uruapan.
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The USDA warned: 'For future situations that result in a security breach, or demonstrate an imminent physical threat to the well-being of APHIS personnel, we will immediately suspend program activities.'
The US Embassy has since noted it is 'facilitating the export of Mexican avocados to the US and guaranteeing the safety of our agricultural inspection personnel go hand in hand.
'We are working with the Mexican government to guarantee security conditions that would allow our personnel in Michoacán to resume operations,' it concluded.
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Topics: US News
Poppy Bilderbeck