INDUSTRY NEWS

Swine Flu? No Word of It at Pork Expo.
By David Brown, Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 5, 2009
...DES MOINES -- Here at the World Pork Expo, H1N1 influenza is many contradictory...passing inconvenience, a...
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Gavin Smith et al, Hong Kong University
With all the talk about H1N1 have you ever seen a clear explanation of how the disease evolved? Here it is, thanks to the research of Galvin Smith et al at Hong Kong University. See the chart that encapsulates the process.

Flu Name Evolving Faster Than Flu Itself
Three weeks after the world first heard of the globe-trotting flu strain, scientists and health agencies are already calling it by a number of names. This article in Science magazine describes the on-going identity crisis, which continues to impact the pork industry.

USDA MAY HELP AILING PORK INDUSTRY HIT BY H1N1
The U.S. pork industry, battered by import bans by nearly two dozen countries worried about the H1N1 flu outbreak, could soon receive some help from the government, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday. (Reuters)


FLU SPREADS IN U.S., ASIA PLEDGES COMMON FIGHT
U.S. health officials warned of worsening outbreaks of the new H1N1 flu, and a top global health official predicted up to a third of the world's population could eventually become infected. (Reuters)


TIDE TURNS FOR PORK DEMAND
After 19 months of economic strife, inaccurate reports associating the H1N1 virus with the swine herd was the last thing the pork industry needed. Cash and futures prices fell dramatically on the misinformation, but the tide began to turn this week. (Brownfield Network)


OFFICIALS FACE SKEPTICISM AS THEY FIGHT NEW FLU IN IOWA
Public health leaders fighting the H1N1 flu know they're walking a fine line between protecting the public and crying wolf. (Des Moines Register)


NATIONAL PORK BOARD UPDATES
Here is the most recent communication from the National Pork Board regarding the H1N1 virus.

Read an Update from the National Pork Board President. You probably know that a worker infected a swine herd in Canada. Learn more about that situation.

Do your part in this crisis! Here’s a template for a letter you may want to send to your neighbors, friends, and family assuring them of pork’s wholesomeness and safety.

Remember to share the facts with everyone you talk with today. Use this Fact Sheet as a conversation starter.


WHO WANTS COUNTRIES TO JUSTIFY ‘SWINE’ FLU MEASURES
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said it was asking countries that took "significantly different" measures to combat swine flu, such as restricting international travel, to justify their actions. (AFP - read more)


PORK PRODUCER AD BLITZ NO INSTANT CURE FOR FLU FEARS
Fears of a global flu pandemic may be subsiding but a big sector in the already battered U.S. food industry will be left reeling for months to come as a result of the scare over "swine flu." (Reuters - read more)


CHINA BUCKS TREND IN SHUTTING OFF PORK
China is stopping imports of pork from Iowa and 34 other states, even as other foreign markets ease restrictions imposed after the flu outbreak. (Des Moines Register - read more)


DEVELOPMENTS ON SWINE FLU WORLDWIDE
Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and government officials: (Associated Press - read more)


How Will H1N1 Impact Pork Industry?
One of the most emailed stories from the NY Times Wednesday, April 29 was this article about the effect of misinformation concerning the current flu outbreak on the pork industry. Read on for analysis from Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA); Larry Pope of Smithfield Farms, and the Obama administration’s chief trade negotiator, Ron Kirk who counsels U.S. trading partners to “base their decisions on science.” View NY Times article


THE NAMING OF SWINE FLU, A CURIOUS MATTER
What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones. (NYTimes.com)


Flu virus still viral in cyberspace - By Lisa M. Keefe on 4/29/2009
(article courtesy of Meatingplace.com)
In space, the movie Aliens tells us, no one can hear you scream. So the meat industry, USDA, WHO and every red meat association executive may be forgiven for thinking they went to bed at home and woke up Tuesday adrift in deep space.

All made repeated attempts throughout the day to bring home the two-pronged message that pork is safe, and that no relationship to hogs has been made in the investigation into the origins of an outbreak of the hybrid A/H1N1 influenza virus.

Even so, the tidal wave of information generated by the social media networks continued to make that connection for their readers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued another statement, reiterating that pork is safe to eat and encouraging trading partners not to ban U.S. imports without sound scientific reasons. The North American Meat Processors Association, the National Meat Association and the American Meat Institute all issued statements asking the media to pick up on the phrase "North American flu" or other, accurate references to the hybrid A/H1N1 flu strain that is the culprit in the ongoing outbreak.

JBS issued another statement saying its pork was safe. And Smithfield Foods — which has gotten the worst of it this week — issued another statement noting, among other facts, that none of its hogs in Mexico have been found to have any traces of the flu strain whatsoever. At least Wall Street was listening. The company's stock actually ended the day up 4.4 percent from its close yesterday, at $9.44.

But the news elsewhere was disheartening. The allegations that residents made, that the flu was related to the operations of Smithfield's Mexican business unit, was picked up by the Associated Press, among other general media channels. Bloggers overwhelmingly repeated the information initially published on the Grist site, connecting the outbreak to "factory" farming, and sneered at Smithfield's releases attempting to set the record straight.

In an unscientific survey, the number of "swine flu" groups on Facebook was 278 Tuesday afternoon, more than double the number just 24 hours earlier. (See Industry battles social media over flu misinformation, Meatingplace, April 28, 2009.)

"This is not an animal health or food safety issue. This discovery of the H1N1 flu virus is in humans," Vilsack said in the agency's latest statement. No word yet on whether anyone was listening.

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