The U.S. government is working to understand and combat the “swine flu” outbreak, it must also contend with the impact that swine flu fears are having on exports of U.S. pork products. So far, countries including China, Croatia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine have announced full or partial bans on pork product imports from the United States and Mexico. The New York Times reports how the U.S. pork industry and U.S. government are trying to combat misinformation about purported links between eating pork and contracting swine flu.
The ABC News blog reports that the U.S. is officially calling the virus by name its particular strain, “H1N1” to put distance between the connection between “pork” and the “swine flu.”
“This really isn’t swine flu. It’s H1N1 virus,” [Agriculture Secretary Tom] Vilsack said. “We want to say to consumers here and abroad that there is no risk to you, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that there is any link between consuming pork, prepared pork products, and the H1N1 virus.”
Despite these assurances, more countries are considering import bans and Egypt’s government has ordered the slaughter of all pigs to prevent swine flu from spreading.
While all of the facts about this outbreak are continuing to develop, FPA’s Global Market’s blog has provided an overview of the dangers of a potential pandemic – and a comprehensive list of official sources for learning more about the virus.
