Posted on 11/26/2003 7:46:23 AM PST by Walkin Man
Sales of Mexican Green Onions Plummet After U.S. Hepatitis Outbreak Traced to Northwestern Mexico
The Associated Press
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Mexico Nov. 25 — Sales of Mexican green onions plunged after a hepatitis outbreak in the United States was traced to northwestern Mexico, forcing farmers in this valley to defend the safety of their produce and find ways to stay afloat financially. Many U.S. distributors are slashing orders, even though it hasn't been proved that Mexico was to blame for the outbreak.
Green onions are big business in the area, making up 90 percent of the fruit and vegetables produced in the Mexicali Valley, which runs near the mouth of the Colorado River. Most of the onions are exported to the United States, where they are distributed around the world.
Most of the Mexicali Valley is in Baja California a big contributor to the nearly $3 billion a year in produce Mexico sends to the United States, with farmers growing asparagus, olives, tomatoes, chilies, cilantro, cucumbers and watermelons.
Industry officials are worried the hepatitis scare in the United States could be "catastrophic," green onion producer Salvador Navarro said.
"Publicity is something that has a huge impact on the American consumer," said Navarro, whose company is located in Sonora state, just across the Colorado River from Baja California.
Navarro's business, Agricola Nueva Era, hasn't been tied to a batch of green onions that allegedly came from Mexico and caused a hepatitis outbreak that killed at least three people and sickened hundreds more in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
But he's already had one client slash orders by half, and another lower his imports by 20 percent. To save money, Navarro is giving his 700 employees an unpaid day off Wednesday.
Mexico's federal Agriculture Department shut down four green onion export companies as a precaution after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said they could be the source of the onions blamed for the hepatitis outbreak.
The government plans to move more quickly to adopt a new, more intensive program of inspections of growers, said Javier Trujillo, director of the Agriculture Department's division of health, safety and quality.
The companies, all located in northwestern Mexico close to the U.S. border, were shut down for failing to prove they "comply with good agricultural and manufacturing practices," the department said in a news release issued over the weekend.
Mexico's 22 other green onion export companies are still operating, the Agriculture Department said.
In the Mexicali Valley alone, farmers plant 15,600 acres of green onions, with an approximate commercial value of $44 million, according to Agriculture Department statistics.
A Baja California producer association has asked Mexican authorities to measure the level of compliance with sanitation standards at every agricultural producer.
Agricultural and health department specialists will visit the four closed companies' growing areas next week, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials will conduct inspections 15 days later, the Agriculture Department's news release said.
Hepatitis A is a virus that attacks the liver and can cause fever, nausea, diarrhea, jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. It usually clears up on its own in about two months.
While hundreds of cases of hepatitis have been linked to the green onions, there have been relatively few reported cases of hepatitis A in the area where they are grown.
The most recent federal Health Department figures, for early November, showed 18 new reported hepatitis A cases in a week in Baja California and none in Sonora.
For the year so far, there had been 420 reported cases of hepatitis A in Baja California and 178 in Sonora.
Just a few of the many "benefits" of free trade.
These two statement seem to be contradictory.
If they paid higher tariffs would protectionism be the reason for the illnesses?
What labour union do you belong to? Let's hope the european or canadian consumers don't say the same thing next time a bottle of tylanol gets tampered with.
That was EXACTLY what I was thinking. Great minds, huh?
If so where do I sign up?
I'm shocked, just shocked.
"Free Trade", gotta love it. (NOT)
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