Mexico suspends imports of some US pork products over virus

By Raul Cortes and Tom Polansek

MEXICO CITY/CHICAGO, May 14 (Reuters) – Mexico has suspended imports from the U.S. of breeding pigs, semen, viscera and pork offal products after U.S. authorities detected pseudorabies virus antibodies in some ​swine, the head of Mexican pork producers’ group Opormex told Reuters ‌on Thursday.

• Mexico is the largest export market for U.S. pork.

• The suspension affects about 10% of Mexico’s total pork-product imports from the U.S. but does not include pork meat because it does not pose a transmission risk, Opormex’s Ivan Espinosa said in an interview.

• Mexico’s ‌National ​Service for Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality (Senasica) implemented the ⁠measure on May 2, removing ⁠sanitary import requirements for those products from all U.S. states from its import platform as a precaution, Espinosa said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on April 30 that routine testing detected pseudorabies virus antibodies in five ​boars at a commercial facility in Iowa, which came from an outdoor facility in Texas. It was the first known U.S. case of pseudorabies, a contagious ⁠disease, in commercial swine since 2004.

• USDA said ⁠swine in Iowa, the biggest U.S. hog-producing state, and Texas ​would be culled. It warned of “limited, short-term impacts on exports.”

• USDA said the cases ​do not pose a risk to consumer health or affect the ‌safety of the commercial pork supply.

• About half of the pork consumed in Mexico is imported, and roughly 80% of those imports come from the U.S., Espinosa said. He added that the suspension will remain in place until an epidemiological ⁠analysis determines which U.S. regions are affected and which can safely resume trade.

• If the suspension is prolonged, Mexico can turn to other suppliers and rely on domestic ⁠production to meet demand, Espinosa ‌said. He added that there is no clinical outbreak ⁠of the disease.

• Most U.S. pork exports to Mexico are ​muscle ‌cuts, such as bone-in hams. However, it is important to ​restore market ⁠access for offal products that Mexico is restricting, the U.S. Meat Export Federation said.

• “We still have customers down there who want them,” said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the industry group. “There’s very little demand for them here in the United States.”

(Reporting by Raúl Cortés Fernández in Mexico City and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Kylie ​Madry and Mark Porter)