Saturday - January 11, 2014

I Wonder Where It Came From?

China has an extreme epidemic of diseased pigs in their country, so to manage their desire for pork products they bought up all of America’s pigs. (slight exaggeration) Now somehow America’s pigs are coming down with the same epidemic. Coincidence? Does PED have an unknown human vector? Because I’m thinking of how all those Beijing pork inspectors are over here, checking out the piggies at Smithfield, which they just bought for billions, and now suddenly Smithfield is all infected. Either that, or pigs just don’t want to go to China and can suicide by disease to prevent that from happening. Ya right.

A virus that kills young pigs is roiling the U.S. pork industry, boosting prices in the $9 billion hog-futures market and threatening to create more pain for food shoppers.

The disease, which has spread to farms in 22 states, is cutting into pork supplies and prompting some traders and investors to wager that hog prices could set records this year. Lean-hog futures rose to a seven-week high a week ago and are up 6% since mid-December.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or the PED virus, appeared in the U.S. for the first time in April and has killed thousands of piglets since then. The virus, which causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, is fatal only to young pigs and poses no threat to human health or food safety, according to swine veterinarians. The U.S. strain is nearly identical to a version that curbed hog production in China in 2012.

Nearly identical. I think perhaps I rest my case.

The extent of the impact is unclear because farms don’t have to report incidents or death totals to federal regulators. Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork producer, and other meatpackers estimate that about 10% of the nation’s sows, or adult female hogs, have been infected by the virus, which can spread to their offspring.

Smithfield, a unit of China’s Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., said last month the virus could result in a loss to U.S. pig production this year of two million to three million head, or up to 3% of the industry’s total.

Yup. Case closed. At least in my imagination.

I bought bacon yesterday on sale for $3.99. I think that’s the last time I’m going to see cheap pork for a long, long time. Sigh.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/11/2014 at 11:29 AM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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