"The import of potatoes from the United States was only authorized for human consumption and not for the production of the tuber, thus mitigating phytosanitary risks in our country," said the chief director of the National Service of Health, Food Safety and quality (SENASICA), Enrique Sanchez Cruz.
The federal official said imports of this food were authorized so long as their packaging stated that they were for human consumption, they were washed, rootless, had no soil, and had growth inhibitors, so that they were not suitable for cultivation.
As part of a tour of the laboratories of the institution, the chief director of Senasica, which is part of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), said health wasn't a negotiable issue for Mexico.
Therefore, he said, the country had negotiated with the health authorities of the US to create a bilateral agreement that allows the trade of tuber between both nations.
He said scientists from Mexico, the US, and the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) had conducted a risk analysis assessment and that, based on it, the authorities had established mitigation measures.
These regulations were implemented, and the scientific issue was settled by the risk analysis, he said.
Sanchez Cruz said that the institution was respectful of the resolutions issued by the judicial authorities, but the legal area of SAGARPA is analyzing the ruling of the Seventh District Court, based in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, which was carrying out the injunction on potato imports from the United States.
He said that the Federal Law on Plant Health required SAGARPA take measures to ensure the appropriate level of protection and health condition of all, or part of, the national territory through the decisions it took on the import of agricultural regulated goods.
Finally, he stressed that Sagarpa was committed to protect the health of the national food production and to create the necessary conditions to supply domestic demand at affordable prices while guaranteeing the people's right to have healthy, accessible, and good quality food.
Source: sagarpa.gob.mx