WASHINGTON – The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has urged the U.S. government to make risk assessments for classical swine fever in Mexico a top priority.

Mexican officials in Washington have reportedly raised concerns about reciprocal market access to the U.S. pork market because some Mexican states have yet to be declared disease-free by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Mexican government has said the states are free of classical swine fever, or hog cholera, a highly contagious viral disease of pigs.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has cleared a number of Mexican states and is conducting risk assessments on eight others.

“NPPC supports a science-based decision regarding the importation of Mexican pork and pork products into the United States, and we have urged APHIS to make completion of its risk assessments for the remaining Mexican states a high priority,” said NPPC President Bryan Black. “We also have urged APHIS to quickly begin the rule-making process to allow Mexican pork imports once the risk assessments have been completed.”

In 2007, Mexico reportedly exported $34.5 million of pork products to the United States, while the U.S. shipped nearly $450 million of pork to Mexico, making the country the No. 3 destination for U.S. pork. Through August of this year U.S. pork exports to Mexico were $417 million.

Source: National Pork Producers Council