Central de Abasto
[1][2] The center commercializes more than 30,000 tons of food products daily, representing 80% of the consumption of the 20 million people in the Mexico City metropolitan area.
[2] Its distribution network connects with more than 1,500 points of sale, including mercados públicos, tianguis, 380 establishments associated with fifteen chain stores as well as other kinds of commercial centers.
[2] As an officially sanctioned wholesale market, the main purpose is to be a central meeting point between large scale buyers and sellers.
It also helps with the regulation of the country’s food supply to ensure adequacy and safety as its centrality eases the inspection process.
[2] From the pre Hispanic period, there were various open air markets called “tianguis” which handled most of the foodstuffs sold in Mexico City.
La Merced was another early market, established on what was the lakeshore, near docks, where farmers brought their produce in boats, to sell in the city .
La Merced reached its height at the beginning of the 20th century, eventually becoming known as the “stomach of the city,”[6] taking over most wholesale sales.
[4] City and federal officials decided to move wholesale food sales to a new facility to be built on “chinampa” farmland, with the goal of providing better entrance and egress, more space for vendors and be better for the environment.
[6] The relatively open land in Izatapalapa meant not only a larger facility but the construction of wider and better roads for shipping.
However, the land that was appropriated for the project in the 1970s, was the last of the pre Hispanic chinampas in Iztapalapa, artificial islands originally near lake shore created for agriculture.
Robbery of merchandise, shipments and money, including violent episodes, is a constant concern, and many merchants have private security.
[14][15][16] NGO’s related to the kidnapping problem in Mexico such as Consejo para la Ley y los Derechos Humanos state that merchants from the facility are targeted by gangs associated with this crime.
[14][18] Market official and police have claimed that crime statistics as of 2007 have significantly improved, up to 90% from highs over the tenure of current administrator Raymundo Collins Flores.
[19] Over twenty five years after the federal government expropriated fifty chinampa properties to build the facility, former owners are still demanding return for the loss of their cropland.
