Western pork industry fights swine flu menace

The pork industries of Mexico, US and Canada are fighting global reluctance over pork consumption.

 

Wall Street analysts predicted a sharp decline of pork sales worldwide as nations shut their doors for meat exports coming from these countries as well as in local grocery stores as some consumers began steering clear of pork chops.

 

Trade players are already frustrated with the misconception that swine flu can be contracted by eating pork despite medical experts' assurance that the disease will not be acquired by consuming a properly cooked pigmeat. In fact, authorities are not even sure how susceptible pigs are to infection with the new flu.

 

Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, convened a hearing on Tuesday on a subject he described as "the so-called swine flu," even as a campaign was mounted by farm groups to rename the virus "North American influenza."

 

C. Larry Pope, the chief executive of Smithfield Foods said swine flu is a misnomer but he feared panic among consumers as they are more concerned on the flu rather than eating pork.

 

Researchers say that based on its genetic structure, the new virus is without question a type of swine influenza, derived originally from a strain that lived in pigs. But the experts are still sorting out how long ago it infected pigs and how much it might have mutated when it jumped to humans.

 

Dr. Paul A. Offit, an infectious disease expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said it the virus has at some point passed through a pig months or years ago.

 

Even if pigs were the original source of the disease, experts said they did not appear to be playing any role in its transmission now. The virus is passing from person to person, they said, most likely by the spread of respiratory droplets.

 

The assurances from medical authorities have not forestalled a pork panic.

 

To date, countries including the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Ecuador have banned pork from the United States, with Mexican pork exports also covered by most of those bans. These have infuriated trade negotiators and hog farmers.

 

China banned pork from certain states, and Russia banned all meat imports, not just pork, from certain states.

 

Trade experts say it is common for countries to impose trade restrictions upon news of an outbreak, either as an emotional response to appease consumers or a convenient excuse to impose a trade barrier. For instance, South Korea banned American beef for five years because of fears of mad cow disease.

 

The challenge, however is persuading those countries to reverse the restrictions so they do not become permanent, the official said.

 

According to consultant Allen F. Johnson, a former chief agriculture trade negotiator for the United States trade representative said if bad policies are not immediately reversed, consumers will get used to it.

 

On Tuesday, the Obama administration's chief trade representative, Ron Kirk, urged trading partners to base their decisions on science and international trade obligations, and he suggested that bans on American pork "may result in serious trade disruptions without cause."

 

Some hog producers were furious at the trade bans, saying they were simply a political ploy by countries to give their own farmers a leg up. Scott Burroughs, the chief operating officer at Nebraska Pork Partner said countries may take advantage of trade agreements especially in economically stressed global economies.