Perdigao meat exports unaffected by swine flu outbreak

Brazil's leading pork and poultry processor, Perdigao SA, has not registered any cancelled meat shipments due to the outbreak of swine flu abroad, company chairman Nildemar Secches said on Wednesday (Apr 29).

Secches said that even if global consumption of pork fell, demand for the product from Brazil could rise as some nations forbid imports from countries where people have fallen ill with the disease.

Russia and China have restricted imports of pork from countries affected by swine flu, even though the new strain is transmitted from person to person and Mexican officials say they have found no evidence of the virus on pig farms.

Since mid-April, swine flu has spread to nine countries and is likely to have infected thousands of people. It is believed to have killed at least 159 people in Mexico and also claimed the life of a child in the US.