Mexico breaks world record with 3-tonne guacamole

By Fernando Carranza

CONCEPCION DE BUENOS AIRES, Mexico (Reuters) - The recipe for a record-breaking guacamole? 25,000 avocados and 1,000 people to mash them.

That is what avocado growers in Mexico's Jalisco state mobilized on Sunday to break the world record for the biggest guacamole, a whopping 3 tonnes (6,600 lbs) of delicious dip made from "green gold."

The mass mash-up was part entertainment and part politicking, as growers and Mexico make the point that they - and the guacamole loving Americans - have benefited from the North American Free Trade Agreement that is now under threat from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States were meeting in the Mexican capital this weekend to revamp the 23-year-old NAFTA accord that Trump has threatened to end if he does not get concessions to curb a trade deficit with Mexico.

Some 80 percent of U.S. avocado consumption comes from Mexico's growing expanse of orchards. Jalisco has become the second biggest producer of the Hass variety in Mexico behind Michoacan state, according to producers.

More than 600 student chefs and 400 people from the rural town of Concepcion de Buenos Aires prepared the traditional dish for thousands people, many of whom came from the Jalisco state capital of Guadalajara.

The state's governor was on hand to receive recognition from a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records.

U.S. negotiators have said they want to include provisions to make it easier for U.S. seasonal produce growers to be able to file anti-dumping cases against Mexico.

That idea has been criticized by U.S. restaurants and retailers, who say it would drive up prices.

Mexican growers of the fruit say U.S. production of avocado could not meet demand.

"The imports of avocados from Mexico have not cost one single job to the domestic industry [in the United States]," said Ramon Paz, the spokesman for Michoacan's growers.

(Additional reporting by Adriana Barrera in Mexico City; Editing by Mary Milliken)