Mexico Shuts Out U.S. Beef,
Poultry For "Health" Reasons

(Editor's note: The North American Free Trade Agreement has been demonized by its opponents and virtually canonized by its supporters, but it may eventually turn out to be a moot point. Border livestock traders have long warned that the only safe way to trade with Mexico is to be sure the greenbacks are securely in hand on the north bank of the Bravo before crossing any goods, and the Mexican government continues to demonstrate that that advice applies as much to official dealings as to private ones. Simply stated, a trade deal with Mexico is analogous to a solemn promise from Bill Clinton — it means whatever they want it to mean at any given moment.)

WASHINGTON — Mexico is at it again.

USDA on Tuesday officially confirmed that Mexico has de-certified 17 U.S. beef and poultry processing plants for alleged "health" reasons.

USDA officials were reportedly unable to comment on the Mexicans' rationale because the letter announcing the de-certification, received Friday, had not yet been translated from Spanish to English.

It was apparent, however, that Mexico deemed the de-certification effective last Wednesday, Nov. 24, the day the letter was dated.

The action was presumably related to a Nov. 1 through 10 inspection tour of the 17 U.S. plants in question. Billy Lloyd, director of technical services for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, bluntly termed the inspections "bogus," noting that the Mexicans de-certified every plant they "inspected."

Lloyd expected more details to emerge after a meeting this week between USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service.

Affected beef plants include the Excel units at Plainview, Texas and Dodge city, Kan.; the IBP plants at Amarillo and Holcomb, Kan.; the Monfort plants at Dumas, Texas and Garden City, Kan.; the National Beef facility at Liberal, Kan.; and the Sam Kane plant at Corpus Christi.