Story by: Noi Mahoney @ FreightWaves

Tomatoes imported from Mexico could face a supply chain squeeze caused by new regulations finalized in September between the U.S. Department of Commerce and Mexican growers, experts say.

The new regulations call for up to 92% of imported Mexican tomatoes crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by truck to be inspected by officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The inspections are “to prevent the importation of low-quality, poor-condition tomatoes from Mexico, which can have price-suppressive effects on the market,” the department said in a statement.

However, officials with the Nogales-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) said the new inspection rules are unnecessary and would lead to delays at the border.

“At that level, the inspections are not only unnecessary, they also have the potential to destabilize the U.S. tomato market,” said FPAA President, Lance Jungmeyer in a release. “It is completely unnecessary to require USDA to conduct quality inspections on an item that has already demonstrated a historical pass rate of 99.76%.” – According to the article from the freightwaves.com  and its author Noi Mahoney

Source and credits: freightwaves.com /  Noi Mahoney  /  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski