April 28, 2009
US group says pork safe to consume
The National Pork Producers Council, in a move echoing that of UK's National Pig Association, stated that pork is safe to consume as the swine flu rages on.
Direct contact with pigs is not the source of, and US pigs have not been infected with, the hybrid flu that has been identified in a number of people in the US and more than 1,300 in Mexico, the NPPC said.
NPPC also calls on pork producers to tighten their existing biosecurity measures to protect their pigs from the virus, including restricting public access to barns.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Homeland Security:
- People cannot get the disease from eating pork or pork products as the swine flu virus is not spread by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.
-
There is currently no food safety issues related to the identified hybrid flu.
-
Preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs.
-
The virus is different, very different from that found in pigs.
-
The hybrid virus never has been identified in hogs in the US or anywhere in the world.
-
The hybrid virus is contagious and is spreading by human-to-human transmission.
