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  • Calling pork safe to eat, council says no link to hogs in America.
    Posted on April 27, 2009

    There is no correlation with pork and the hybrid flu influenza - often referred to as swine flu - that has been identified in a number of people in the United States and more than 1,300 in Mexico, according to the National Pork Producers Council.
    "Pork is safe to eat, and direct contact with swine is not the source of, and U.S. pigs have not been infected with, the hybrid influenza," the council said.
    The council wants "to assure domestic and global consumers about the safety of pork and urges pork producers to tighten their existing biosecurity protocols to protect their pigs from this virus, including restricting public access to barns."
    According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, people cannot get the hybrid influenza from eating pork or pork products. Most influenza viruses, including the swine flu virus, are not spread by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.
    There are no food safety issues related to the hybrid flu that has been identified, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
    However, Russia has banned the import of meat products from Mexico, California; Texas and Kansas. South Korea has said it will increase the number of its influenza virus checks on pork products from Mexico and the U.S.
    Smithfield Foods Inc., the largest U.S. pork producer, said it has found no signs or symptoms of swine flu in its herds or workers at the company's joint ventures in Mexico. The Smithfield Va.-based company said those operations will submit samples from swine herds to The University of Mexico for testing.
    The company also noted that its joint ventures in Mexico conduct monthly tests for the presence of swine flu.
    Preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs.
    The hybrid virus never has been identified in hogs in the United States or anywhere in the world. But the hybrid virus is contagious and is spreading by human-to-human transmission.
    Want to learn more?
    Visit www.pork.org or www.cdc.gov/swinflu