Authorities in the United States have suspended avocado and mango inspections and shipments from the Mexican state of Michoacan after two employees from the Department of Agriculture were reportedly assaulted and held by assailants.
The incident on Friday prompted U.S. authorities to pause inspections, according to The Associated Press.
“To guarantee the safety of our agricultural inspection teams, APHIS (the Department of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) has suspended the avocado and mango inspections in Michoacan until these security problems have been resolved,” U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar told the AP.
Through partnerships, U.S.-based businesses grow avocados in Michoacan and the Mexican state of Jalisco, where USDA inspectors work to ensure exported avocados are disease-free.
Officials for the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico (APEAM) said the inspectors were released and that the detention was unrelated to the avocado industry.
APEAM is a nonprofit organization that represents more than 34,000 avocado farmers and more than 84 packing houses in Mexico.
“The interruption of avocado exports from Michoacan was due to an incident unrelated to the avocado industry, also affecting other agricultural exports in the state,” APEAM said, according to CNN.
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Mexico’s avocado exports totaled more than $2.84 billion in 2023, according to Statista. The U.S. is Mexico’s top export market, accounting for 81% of total exports, valued at $2.7 billion last year.
Michoacan is one of only two Mexican states authorized to produce and export avocados. It grows more than 80% of the avocados shipped from the country. The Mexican state of Jalisco began exporting avocados in 2022.
The ports of entry in Pharr and Laredo, Texas, are the top two border crossings for fresh avocados from Mexico, representing about 90% of those imports.
In 2019, USDA inspectors in Michoacan were threatened at gunpoint by a group of people after the inspectors canceled the certification of an avocado farm.
In February 2022, U.S. authorities suspended avocado imports from Michoacan after a USDA inspector carrying out field work received a threatening phone call. The ban, which lasted about a week, was lifted after additional safety measures for U.S. inspectors were put into effect.