US suspends inspections of avocados, mangoes in Mexico’s Michoacan state over security concerns

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. government has suspended inspections of avocados and mangoes in the Mexican state of Michoacan due to security concerns, an official said Monday.

A U.S. government spokesperson, whose name cannot be used as part of agency policy, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is pausing inspections in Michoacan, Mexico’s largest exporter of avocados until the safety conditions are resolved.

Inspections in other Mexican states are not affected, the spokesperson said.

Michoacan Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla told reporters on Monday that Mexican authorities were in talks with their US counterparts to quickly resolve the situation.

In February 2022, the The US government has suspended inspections of Mexican avocados “until further notice” after a US factory safety inspector in Michoacan received a threatening message. After about a week the stop was lifted.

Later that year, Jalisco became the second Mexican state to be allowed to export avocados to the US

The pause in inspections will not block shipments of Mexican avocados to the United States because Jalisco is now an exporter and many Michoacan avocados are already in transit, the spokesperson said.

Because the United States also grows avocados, U.S. inspectors work in Mexico to ensure that exported avocados do not carry diseases that could harm U.S. crops.