Mexico meat sector decries new livestock movement rules, ivermectin requirement to battle screwworm

By Cassandra Garrison and Tom Polansek

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico’s meat industry is pushing back against new government regulations on livestock movement as tensions with the United States heat up over an outbreak of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite.

Restricting movement of livestock from the south to the north of the country “threatens the viability of a sector that generated $192 billion in 2024,” Mexican meat chamber AMEG said in a statement released on Friday.

“Recent measures… jeopardize the supply chain of the meat production sector,” AMEG said without specifying which measures. It said the only proven method to eradicate the screwworm, which infests and can kill livestock if untreated, was the release of sterile flies to reduce the mating population in the wild.

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