Mexico: 850 MT of citrus fruit confiscated

Tholen – The Mexican Secretary of Agriculture (SAGARPA) and the federal police confiscated 850 tons of oranges at the border of the state of Tamaulipas. The fruit came from the state of Veracruz in 16 trailers. The detention is the result of a phytosanitary alert due to the prevalence of Toxoptera citricida, which contains the vector that propagates the virus of “tristeza” to citrus fruits. In Tamaulipas there is a risk on a cultivated area of 35,000 hectares because this area does not have a resistant pattern for the virus, announced Humberto Vásquez Ramírez, Chief of Department at SAGARPA. The region annually produces 350,000 tons and only 3500 hectares are resistant to the virus.

The police operation is the result of the renounce of transporters to introduce the fruit legally. An additional shipment of 3800 tons fulfilled the standards and was authorized to be marketed (2500 tons in Nuevo León).

Publication date: March 29 2007
Author: Jahir Lombana
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