Alfredo Castillo, a Mexican federal security official, has revealed that Mexican drug cartels forced their gang members to consume the hearts of murder victims as part of an initiation rite.

The reasoning behind the alleged cannibalism which took place in an agricultural state in western Mexico was to root out potential infiltrators, Reuters reports.

During a Mexican television interview, Castillo said that although the practice was not a widespread one, various eyewitness accounts point to the real possibility that heart-eating was a legitimate part of an initiation employed by La Familia Michoacana and the Knights Templar, the main gangs operating out of Michoacan.

Castillo did not provide additional details as to who offered the damning testimony about the cannibalism and did not specify when and where the alleged initiation rituals happened.

La Familia Michoacana and its offshoot gang, the Knights Templar cartel, were both founded by a man named Nazario Moreno, who went by the moniker "The Craziest One." Moreno was a cultish crime boss who was killed in March 2014. He had previously was mistakenly declared dead in 2010.

A mid-December shootout between two rival cartels in the region ended up in the death of 11 people. Since 2007, more than 100,000 people have been killed in gang-related violence in Mexico.

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto has faced much criticism for the drug cartel related chaos in his country, including the apparent murder of 43 student teachers by a drug gang allegedly working with corrupt police in neighboring Guerrero state. The missing 43 students ignited worldwide protests against the government.

Pena Nieto was expected to discuss Mexico's state of perpetual violence with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.

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