Meltdown for Millennials! Avocado shortage looms for US after violent outbreak at inspection post in Mexico

The US government has paused the inspections of avocado and mango shipments after two Agriculture Department employees were attacked in Mexico.

The American workers were assaulted and held against their will, while they were inspecting avocados in the Michoacán municipality of Paracho on Saturday.

According to local reports, the workers were on their way to work when they were violently attacked on the street by protesters in Aranza. 

They are no longer being held hostage, according to ambassador Ken Salazar - but as a result, the movement of avocados into the US will be delayed. 

No one has been arrested for the assault.  

A farmer loads fruit boxes with avocados onto a truck at an orchard in the municipality of Uruapan, Michoacan State, Mexico (stock image)

The United States government has halted inspections of avocado and mango shipments from Michoacán, Mexico after two employees with United States Agriculture Department were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants this weekend

A man works at an avocado orchard in Santa Ana Zirosto, a town in the western Mexico state of Michoacán - the only state permitted to export avocados to the United States

The employees work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Because the US also grows avocados, inspectors work in Mexico to ensure exported avocados don't carry diseases that could hurt U.S. crops. 

'To guarantee the safety of our agricultural inspection teams, APHIS has suspended the avocado and mango inspections in Michoacan until these security problems have been resolved,' Salazar said.

Michoacán is Mexico's biggest exporter of avocados.

The country exports avocados to at least 34 countries. However, the states of Michoacán and Jalisco are the only one that are allowed to send avocados to Canada, Japan and the United States.

The suspension of inspections will not affect the operations at other Mexican states, according to Salazar.

Michoacan Governo Alfredo Ramírez told Mexico's Radio Formula Tuesday that the inspectors had been stopped in a protest by residents of Aranza.

He downplayed the situation, suggesting they were never at risk. He said that he got in touch with the U.S. Embassy the following day and that state forces were providing security for the state's avocado producers and packers.

Local producers stand by sacks with freshly harvested avocados at a market in Tenancingo de Degollado, Mexico. The avocado industry generated $3.2 billion for the Mexican economy in 2023

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during his daily press briefing Wednesday that plans were being laid out to ensure the safety of inspectors.

The leftist leader added that Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena will be meeting with Salazar to resolve the issue.

'If they feel that there are threats to their inspectors, let us seek to protect them and help them, but do not take unilateral measures that do not correspond to the good relationship we have,' López Obrador said.

Inspections were also suspended in 2022 when a U.S. Agriculture Department worker received death threats because they were investigating shipments of avocados that were grown in the central state of Puebla and were being brought over to Michoacán.

The suspension was lifted a week later after Mexican authorities guaranteed the safety of U.S. inspectors.

Juan Anaya, the director for Agricultural Market Consulting Group , told Radio Formula that the latest pause in inspections could have drastic effects on the economy as avocado exports generated $3.2 billion in profits in 2023. At least 300,000 people in Michoacán are employed at orchards and sites.

'This is going to cause serious problems,' Anaya said.