<p>Sales of Mexican green onions have dropped dramatically after a U.S. hepatitis outbreak was traced to northwestern Mexico, forcing farmers in this valley to defend the safety of their produce and find ways to stay afloat financially.</p><p>Many U.S. distributors are slashing orders, even though it hasnt been proved that Mexico was to blame for the outbreak.</p><p>We dont have the most sophisticated equipment in the world, but we take a lot of care with hygiene, said green onion producer Salvador Navarro.</p><p>Green onions are big business here, making up 90 percent of the fruit and vegetables produced in the Mexicali Valley, which runs near the mouth of the Colorado River. Most of the onions are exported to the United States, where they are distributed around the world.</p><p>Most of the valley is in Baja California _ a big contributor to the nearly $3 billion a year in produce Mexico sends to the United States. Farmers grow asparagus, olives, tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, cucumbers and watermelons.</p><p>Navarros company is just across the Colorado from Baja California, in Sonora state.</p><p>Industry officials are worried that a recent hepatitis scare in the United States could be catastrophic, Navarro said.</p><p>Publicity is something that has a huge impact on the American consumer, he said.</p><p>His business, called Agricola Nueva Era, hasnt been tied to a batch of green onions that allegedly came from Mexico and caused a hepatitis outbreak that killed at least three people and sickened hundreds more in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.</p><p>But hes already had one client slash orders by half, and another lower his imports by 20 percent. To save money, Navarro is giving his 700 employees an unpaid day off Wednesday.</p><p>Mexicos federal Agriculture Department shut down four green onion export companies as a precaution after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said they could be the source of the onions blamed for the hepatitis outbreak.</p><p>The companies, all located in northwestern Mexico close to the U.S. border, were shut down for failing to prove that they comply with good agricultural and manufacturing practices, the department announced in a news release issued over the weekend.</p><p>The Agriculture Department has argued that because of Mexicos precautionary action, the United States was keeping the border open and 22 of 26 Mexican green-onion export companies were still operating.</p><p>In the Mexicali Valley alone, farmers plant 15,600 acres of green onion with an approximate commercial value of $44 million, according to Agriculture Department statistics.</p><p>A Baja California producer association has asked Mexican authorities to measure the level of risk and compliance with sanitation standards at every agricultural producer.</p><p>Agricultural and health department specialists will visit the four closed companies growing areas next week, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials will conduct inspections 15 days later, the Agriculture Departments news release said.</p><p>Hepatitis A is a virus that attacks the liver and can cause fever, nausea, diarrhea, jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. Hepatitis A usually clears up on its own in about two months.</p><p>While hundreds of cases of hepatitis have been linked to the green onions, there have been relatively few reported cases of hepatitis A in the area where they are grown.</p><p>The most recent federal Health Department figures, for early November, showed 18 new reported hepatitis A cases in a week in Baja California and none in Sonora.</p><p>For the year so far, there had been 420 reported cases of hepatitis A in Baja California and 178 in Sonora.</p>
