- The Canadian government has decided to ban the import
of Mexican cantaloupe because of health concerns, a local daily reported.
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- The announcement follows an Oct. 28 decision by the United
States not to import the melons, after two people died and more than a
dozen became ill from salmonella bacteria that the U.S. Department of Agriculture
believes they contracted from Mexican cantaloupe.
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- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recommended that
the fruit not be imported again until Mexico puts a program of "sound
agricultural practices" into place, reported the Mexico City business
daily El Financiero.
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- The agency said residents of British Columbia and Saskatchewan
had become ill from eating Mexican cantaloupe. Both the United States and
Canada have banned importation of certain brands of the melon for about
a year because of salmonella outbreaks.
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- But Mexican agricultural officials were not convinced
that cantaloupe was to blame for the illnesses.
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- According to the Mexican Agricultural Secretariat, "the
alleged problem with salmonella occurred in the last export season,"
and no longer poses a threat, the Spanish news service EFE reported this
week.
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- Mexico said the U.S. action was taken prior to any sanitary
inspection of the fruit, EFE reported.
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- This week the secretariat released a set of standards
for the cultivation, harvest, storage, and transport of cantaloupe. The
government believes the new standards will reduce the danger of contamination.
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- President Vicente Fox's administration has contested
the U.S. ban in the World Trade Organization. Mexico also believes the
ban violates the North American Free Trade Agreement, El Financiero reported.
The United States is the principal importer of Mexican cantaloupe, and
Mexico stands to lose 4 to 6 million dollars per year because of the ban,
the paper reported.
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- When consumed by humans, salmonella bacteria can cause
diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain in healthy people, and can
threaten the lives of children, the elderly, and those with compromised
immune systems.
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- http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=40030
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