Rachel Laudan

Gigante Verde (green giant) is going to build a new 1.5 hectare plant in Irapuato. Irapuato, about forty minutes drive from Guanajuato, is pretty much the agricultural capital of central Mexico. General Mills, which owns Gigante Verde, has been investing there since 1983.

Much of it is in frozen vegetables. The region, which had not seen broccoli before Gigante Verde and BirdsEye arrived, is now awash in it. When George Bush Senior announced he’d never liked broccoli and wasn’t going to eat it, it caused panic among the big farmers down here. They’ve recovered. But only 0.5% of these products stay in Mexico.

Now Gigante Verde’s going to make Old El Paso products. The local newpaper AM has a photo of the plant manager, Emilio Lacedelli, holding a huge Old El Paso Stand ‘n Stuff Taco Dinner Kit. Is Mexico going to be overrun by mock New Mexican v-shaped tortillas? No. 100% of production is intended for export.

So wait for the 4-1/2 million boxes of preformed tortillas and tostadas and flour tortillas.

Actually it’s good news for booming Irapuato adding 250 more jobs to the 1,500 that GM already generates there.