Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said two employees of the U.S.D.A.’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were assaulted and detained while traveling in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where they had been surveying orchards and packing plants. The employees were later released, but the episode led to a temporary halt of inspections of avocados and mangoes destined for the United States. A “satisfactory” proposal on worker safety allowed the inspectors to return to work, Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said last Monday.
Inspectors employed by a unit of the U.S.D.A. vet producers and packing plants in Mexico as part of a program designed to make sure orchards and other facilities that handle the crops are free of pests and comply with food safety standards.
According to the Embassy’s website, security incidents in Mexico have not been limited to the avocado program. In 2020, a USDA employee who carried out screening and eradication activities in support of fruit and pest and citrus disease programs in northern Mexico was killed. In the case of concern, an APHIS inspector questioned the integrity of a particular shipment, and refused to certify it on the basis of specific issues. The USDA inspector’s supervisor later received a telephone threat against him and his family.
