Thread: Mexico suspends beef, poultry shipments to U.S.

Mexico suspends beef, poultry shipments to U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government of Mexico has voluntarily suspended shipments of meat and processed poultry to the United States after U.S. officials raised concerns about the quality of Mexican food processing and inspections, an Agriculture Department official said Thursday.

The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service identified systemic problems with sanitation controls and recordkeeping during an annual audit that took place in Mexico between June 24 and July 31.

The voluntary suspension began Aug. 29, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the service. About 2% of beef and poultry in the U.S. comes from Mexican producers.

"Safety concerns in multiple establishments were not identified by Mexican in-plant inspection personnel, demonstrating that Mexico's system to verify its plants were producing safe food in a clean facility was insufficient," Eamich said.

She said the audit report was not yet completed and would be posted on the agency's website within 60 days.

It was not known how long the suspension would last as Mexico takes steps to improve food safety.

Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group, said it had raised concerns with the department in late August about Mexico's exports of meat and poultry.

"While we are pleased that the Mexican government decided to suspend its exports voluntarily on Aug. 29, USDA should have taken more decisive action to protect American consumers from unsafe meat imports," said Wenonah Hauter, the group's executive director.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... beef_N.htm

Sounds like Mr. Calderon is really hungry for the money that Bush is going to give him; either that or he is pretty embarassed by the latest outbreak in the US being traced to jalapenos and serrano peppers imported from Mexico.
Unfortunately, a lot of these farms in Mexico have only sewage water to irrigate their crops.
I do have to somewhat applaud the Mexicans for suspending their exports to this country, but they would have kept coming were it not for the USDA inspectors on their ANNUAL visit. I would like a few more frequent visits per annum.
And why are my avocadoes imported from Mexico, why are my apples from Peru, and why is my favorite fish (tilapia) from China, along with catfish from Vietnam (known as basa so they could avoid tariffs trying to protect American catfish farmers). The American industries, like the shrimpers are dying due to high fuel costs and, according to the last report I read from the Wall Street Journal a few years ago, 88 percent of seafood is imported into this country from those that do not have any qualms about introducing antibiotics into farm-raised shrimp or crayfish.

WE WHERE the Greatest Country on Earth . Now we worry and rightfully so bout crops grown on sewer water . Thanks Nafta and Bill

While the internal demand for meat is rising the eliminatin of competition from American buyers lowers the price of meat for Mexican urban dwellers.

I quit drinking, but I used to drink Corona. On several occasions I had flu like symptoms the day after drinking it. Stay away from it.

You cannot even drink the water in Mexico and yet we allow meat from Mexico to enter this country, presumably for human consumption! How come I do not get a very good feeling about that?

GOOD NOW I CAN FEEL COMFORTABLE EATING MEAT AGAIN.

We don't have enough cows and chickens in this country? Why are we even importing meat?