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Sales of Mexican Green Onions Plummet After U.S. Hepatitis Outbreak Traced to Northwestern Mexico
abcnews.go.com \ AP ^ | Nov. 25 2003

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Mexico; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; freetrade; hepatitis; hepatitisonions; nafta
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To: Prodigal Son
Things happen everywhere --- but some things happen a lot more in some places versus other places:

From CDC.

21 posted on 11/26/2003 8:37:16 AM PST by FITZ
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To: Prodigal Son
On that, I'll agree. I exaggerated to make a point to the 'fair trade' side of the economic argument. Namely that if Mexicans continue to practice poor sanitation in their agriculture industry, it will not capture significant market share, regardless of the labor cost advantage, or any government subsidy.
22 posted on 11/26/2003 8:38:26 AM PST by .cnI redruM (The social agenda of the Democratic Party reminds me of a creepy XXX fetish show.)
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To: Walkin Man
Many U.S. distributors are slashing orders, even though it hasn't been proved that Mexico was to blame for the outbreak.

We can't blame Mexico --- they irrigate and fertilize their crops the way they have always done. Anyone who has ever traveled to Mexico knows it is common knowledge that you don't drink the water and you don't eat raw foods in that country. The importers and distributors are the ones who were making a quick profit and knowingly imported these products. Blame the importers but don't blame Mexico.

23 posted on 11/26/2003 8:40:39 AM PST by FITZ
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To: .cnI redruM
Further proof that the market works. Green onions from Mexico are now seen as an inferior good.

But the problem is that the politicians that imposed NAFTA on our market knew the sanitary standards of Mexico were and are inferior to those of the US and yet still forced this dangerous product into our markets in the name of "free trade".

How many Americans will have to die to show the market works?

24 posted on 11/26/2003 9:06:08 AM PST by Walkin Man
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To: Prodigal Son
No nation is immune to food poisoning. Things like this happen everywhere. I don't stop drinking Coke after they find a rat in one of the bottles.

True but you are comparing apples to oranges.

Sure in the USA there is the occasional food poisoning incident, but overall we have rules, standards and laws in effect to stop these things from happening. There are no such laws in Mexico or else they are not enforced and Americans will pay the price for that thanks to the republican and demoRat parties that gave us NAFTA.

25 posted on 11/26/2003 9:11:37 AM PST by Walkin Man
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To: Walkin Man
according to Paul Harvey this morning the problem comes from Mexican farmers using human sh!t as fertilizer
26 posted on 11/26/2003 9:12:58 AM PST by Republicus2001
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To: Republicus2001
...Mexican farmers using human sh!t as fertilizer Something to think about the next time you sit down to eat at a restaurant, eh?
27 posted on 11/26/2003 9:16:33 AM PST by Walkin Man
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To: FITZ
When I say these things- I mean literally every mishap you can get from food. Not just Hepatitus. If your graphic pointed at mad cow disease, Great Britain would be a danger zone.

Hey, boycott Mexico. It doesn't bother me. I'm not going to though. I wouldn't hesitate at all to travel to and eat in many of those countries in the red. Particularly India.

28 posted on 11/26/2003 9:21:10 AM PST by Prodigal Son
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To: Prodigal Son
I've traveled and eaten in Mexico --- but of course they have warnings in every tourist book around --- unlike what happened to these poor victims of Chi Chis. Plus if we're going to have third world health standards now for the USA --- then we need to educate people how to survive better with them. If we want to live like third worlders because it's cheaper then we have to stop eating fresh vegetables just like third worlders have if they want to avoid diseases that travel the fecal-oral route.
29 posted on 11/26/2003 9:35:13 AM PST by FITZ
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To: Walkin Man
How many Americans will have to die to show the market works?

Think of the risks to school age kids when the government decides to cut costs and put this fecal-contaminated food in the lunches of the children. Parents might be able to protect them somewhat by feeding them at home --- but as long as there are no standards on the food that's brought in, there will be more and more outbreaks of this and many other diseases.

30 posted on 11/26/2003 9:44:21 AM PST by FITZ
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To: familyofman
"Green Onions" by Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass

Booker T

31 posted on 11/26/2003 9:44:25 AM PST by Tex-Con-Man
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To: Tex-Con-Man
"Booker T" and the MGs. What did the TB do?
32 posted on 11/26/2003 9:48:58 AM PST by familyofman
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To: FITZ
Its funny, I thought NAFTA was supposed to bring Mexico up to our level.

Instead its dragging our food safety level down to their third-world standard while destroying middle-class jobs at the same time.

What a deal...

33 posted on 11/26/2003 9:50:52 AM PST by Walkin Man
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To: Walkin Man
No --- NAFTA was never meant to bring Mexico up to our level --- if they had to meet our standards, then their prices wouldn't be cheap enough to be worth it ---- the importers want to make a lot of profit -- not just a little. Just like the Mexican truck drivers complaining if they have to have our safety regulations on their trucks --- they can't afford them.
34 posted on 11/26/2003 10:06:59 AM PST by FITZ
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To: Walkin Man
Folks, it's not just their green onions that are fertilized with human manure...
35 posted on 11/26/2003 1:43:49 PM PST by Redbob
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To: Walkin Man
If so where do I sign up?

No need to sign up. Members know each other by the tone of their voice when they bash the President and their satin jackets.

36 posted on 11/26/2003 2:59:16 PM PST by ClintonBeGone
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