Mexico will monitor U.S. inspections of exported tomatoes
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Topics: MEXICO U.S. EXPORT TOMATO
Given the uncertainty that has arisen among Mexican exporters, the undersecretary and trade negotiator for North America, Jesus Seade, has assured that the country will not allow quality inspections of Mexican tomatoes at the border to be harmful to trade.
"Inspections of Mexican tomatoes can be carried out too slowly or in too much detail, so they can take 12 hours or 3 days," he added. "That would greatly affect trade, so they have to be conducted in an expeditious manner," he said.
"The inspection of the merchandise depends on how it is carried out. If you want to harm trade, then you examine each tomato, which would take three days and the tomatoes would rot. If you want to be efficient, then you carry out an expedited inspection which takes 12 or 14 hours; a day doesn't do so much damage to the product," he said. ■