Mexico suspends imports of meat

Swift plant among 30 affected in U.S.

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Mexico suspended meat imports from 30 processing plants in 14 states, including the Swift & Co. pork-processing plant on Story Avenue in Louisville, in what's shaping up as a possible tug of war over recently enacted U.S. labeling laws.

The suspensions, which will affect some of the nation's largest meatpackers, were effective either Wednesday or yesterday, according to a list posted on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site.

The action pushed down beef and pork futures in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange yesterday.

Among the plants listed is the Smithfield Packing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., the world's largest pork slaughterhouse.

Two small Indiana plants also were on the USDA list: Farbest Foods of Huntingburg and Vin-Lee-Ron Meats of Mentone.

USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said in an e-mail that Mexico had discussions with the agency over the past five business days regarding concerns about the general condition of meat products, sanitation issues and "possible pathogen findings."

Published reports raised the possibility that the move could reflect Mexico's objection to a recently enacted law that requires meat products to bear country-of-origin labels. The law took effect on Oct. 1 in response to concerns about the safety of imports.

On Dec. 18, Mexico joined Canada in opposing the law, which involves fresh beef and pork, in a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

ConAgra Foods, which formerly owned Butterball-brand turkey, sold the company in 2006 and is not affected, according to Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for the Omaha, Neb., company. ConAgra is incorrectly named on the USDA Web site as one of the plant operators.