U.S. resuming avocado imports

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Embassy announced Friday that Washington is lifting a ban on inspections of Mexican avocados, freeing the way for exports to resume.

The suspension of inspections had threatened Mexico’s $3 billion annual exports, and raised the possibility of price increases for U.S. consumers.

Ambassador Ken Salazar said in a statement that the decision came after Mexico and the United States agreed “to enact the measures that ensure the safety” of agricultural inspectors who are in charge of making sure Mexican avocados don’t carry diseases or pests that would harm U.S. orchards.

Salazar did not describe those measures or whether they would address reports of Mexican growers and packers playing fast and lose with sanitary measures designed to protect U.S. avocado growers.

The inspections were halted last week after one of the U.S. inspectors was threatened in the western state of Michoacan, where growers are routinely subject to extortion by drug cartels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the inspector had received a threat “against him and his family.”

It said the inspector had “questioned the integrity of a certain shipment, and refused to certify it based on concrete issues.”

Michoacan is the only Mexican state certified as pest-free and able to export avocados to the U.S. market. There have been frequent reports that some packers in Mexico are buying avocados from other, non-certified states, and trying to pass them off as being from Michoacan.

“I am pleased to report that today the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service has determined it will immediately resume its avocado inspection program in Michoacan,” Salazar wrote.