May 9, 2009
Mexican health, agriculture and sanitation authorities have cleared a pig farm operated by Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) in the state of Veracruz for any wrong-doing or link to the outbreak of a deadly influenza epidemic, top officials said Thursday (May 7).
Agriculture Minister Alberto Cardenas also said that after repeated investigations there has been no evidence found of sick animals in the livestock industry and Mexico's 15 million pigs are all healthy and ready to eat.
A joint report based on the inspections made by Mexico's sanitation agency Senasica, the Agriculture Ministry and the organization for animal health and safety, also said that further investigations in private farms had revealed no signs of disease.
"In conclusion, neither in the farm, nor in the homes, did we see sick pigs or people. Neither did we see signs of respiratory disease... and therefore we can furthermore conclude that the consumption of pork meat does not represent any risk whatsoever to the health of human beings," said the report, presented at a press conference.
Residents in the small Veracruz town of La Gloria, near Perote, had complained to local authorities after about a third of the population came down with the flu, which they blamed on the pig farm operated by Smithfield.
Smithfield has denied any existence of evidence linking the current outbreak of the new strain of influenza AH1N1 to its herds or employees at its Mexican operation, which is known under the local joint venture name Granjas Caroll.
Granjas Caroll de Mexico has 56,000 sows and produced 950,000 hogs in fiscal 2008, according to company information.
Smithfield shares on Thursday fell 0.5 percent to US$11.69 in after hours' trading.
Thursday's findings were the fifth time an inspection into the Smithfield operations had been made since the residents of La Gloria first complained about the local influenza outbreak, which resulted in no fatalities.
In the wake of the first influenza outbreak in La Gloria Mexican sanitation, authorities inspected the farm, as did the National Confederation of Pork Producers, and both groups repeated their inspections following the confirmation on April 23 of the new influenza virus.
Neither of the four previous reports had found evidence of any malpractice at Granjas Caroll, but Thursday's report was the most detailed to date and described the Smithfield farm as a "model operation" in the hog industry.
"There is a very strict control against diseases and pests. All material is disinfected and sanitized before being brought into the farm," said the report.
High bio-safety measures as well as strict control of non-authorized personal are in place and all staff have to comply with special dress and cleaning codes that address sanitation standards before they can enter the farm and processing facilities.
No evidence of leaks in the water tanks that could have caused any waste material to infiltrate the ground water in the area around La Gloria was found.
"The tanks are sealed off in a way that impedes the infiltration (of waste) into the ground water and basically the water treated is in good conditions and there is not a point of infection," it said.
A total of 524 rural farm homes were inspected in addition to the Smithfield farm in the small Veracruz region, where small-holder coffee and sugar producers often live with animals, such as pigs and chickens, in their homes.
"In 100 percent of the homes we visited, in none of the properties were sick animals or sick people found," read the findings.
The animal death rate was lower on the Smithfield farm than in the rest of Veracruz state and once an animal died it would immediately be taken away and "there is an adequate handling" of the sanitary issues of how dead pigs are processed.
