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Enlarge textThe virus that threatens the bacon supply.
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You only ever hear the word "swine" when the pigs are not worth eating. Swine flu must be serious; it’s killed one thirtieth the number of people that malaria kills every day. Nonetheless, this virus has spread from an edible animal to humans and then human to human.
Should I be surprised that the media takes an infectious disease more seriously when it threatens the bacon supply rather than people somewhere tropical and poverty-stricken? Food blogging is marginally to blame for the (mostly) American obsession with bacon; and maybe this in turn is affecting the perception of the severity or risk of the virus.
So how did it get in pigs in the first place? David Kirby in The Huffington Post points to the move of factory farming of American pork in "concentrated animal feeding operations" or CAFOs to Mexico:
In the last several years, U.S. hog conglomerates have opened giant swine CAFOs south of the border, including dozens around Mexico City in the neighboring states of Mexico and Puebla. Smithfield Foods also reportedly operates a huge swine facility in the State of Veracruz. Many of these CAFOs raise tens of thousands of pigs at a time. Cheaper labor costs and a desire to enter the Latin American market are drawing more industrialized agriculture to Mexico all the time, wiping out smaller, traditional farms, which now account for only a small portion of swine production in Mexico.
"Classic" swine flu virus (not the novel, mutated form in the news) is considered endemic in southern Mexico, while the region around the capital is classified as an "eradication area" - meaning the disease is present, and efforts are underway to control it. For some reason, vaccination of pigs against swine flu is prohibited in this area, and growers rely instead on depopulation and restriction of animal movement when outbreaks occur.
U.S. and Mexican epidemiologists and veterinarians will surely want to take swine samples from Mexican CAFOs and examine them for the newly discovered influenza strain (No one knows exactly how long it has been in circulation). And though it is too early to know if this new virus mutated and incubated on Mexican hog CAFOs, the industrialized facilities unquestionably belong on the list of suspects.
At the moment there is no link between pork consumption and the swine flu but there may be a link between the virus and industrial pork production.
For all of America’s profound obsession with bacon, China both consumes and produces more pork than any other nation. As a result of the viral outbreak, the Chinese Government has now banned the import of Mexican, Texan, Californian and Kansan pork products. So is it just a convenient outburst of protectionism or the shape of the future of pork?
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Comments (26)
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28 May 2010 9:12 AEST
From:
Flying Swine
The American "Swine Flu" was stuck with The Bird Flu", so the Americans now have a Flying Pig Flu! Nuts! but, what is worse is that they set up vaccinations for this flu that is full of toxins! Mercury, Alluminum, Formaldehyde,....even Phenoxyethanol: this is Antifreeze, PLUS! Kriminie! That's Monsterous for the kids. See: www.KorenPublications.com, www.GlobalHealingCenter.com/ a friend sent me this - just blew me away. These shots are international - don't get any! Stay Strong, Be Healthy
06 May 2009 10:50 AEST
From: Fitzroy AKA Newtown
And what "arguements" would they be?
I didn't see any *actual* arguements from you to be addressed, Jam-ez. And if you truly think that FItzroy and Collingwood cannot be distinguished, well perhaps you need to be more discerning. Then again, at least it's not ghastly Nunawading. The only culture out there is the Channel 10 studios.
06 May 2009 10:37 AEST
From: Nunawading
Poor baby, Jam-ez
Want a cuddle? http://blogs.babycenter.com/momformation/files/2009/04/kleenex.jpg
06 May 2009 10:26 AEST
From: Not Nunawading, fortunately
Very small Big Jim
Actually Jim, my voice is more of a languid drone than weedy whine. But don’t let that stop you making personal attacks rather than actually addressing any of the points I raised.
05 May 2009 8:02 AEST
From: Nunawading
My name is Jam-ez and i've got no friends
no comment to be made... just a prompt to re-read Jam-ez's post out loud in a weeney condescending voice
04 May 2009 13:42 AEST
From: Melbourne
Righteousness-o-meter off the chart
20 responses and not one of them enlightening or amusing. There might be a link between swine flu and intensive agriculture. Just as there might also not be. Any speculation beyond that at this moment seems premature and rather pointless. Also, DFG, as a resident of both Fitzroy and Collingwood at various times over the past decade I can assure you they a virtually indistinguishable.
01 May 2009 16:22 AEST
From: texas to collingwood
bbq
big jim - i think i still got a tree in my street. why don't you come round this sunday and we'll use it to cook ourselves a big fat steak & some ribs. after a coupla your finest ales we'll take Big Red out a hippy-huntin! Yee-ha!
01 May 2009 16:19 AEST
From: texas to collingwood
hot dog!
owoo-ouch! big jim you said it - dfg is a real live wire. you don't wanna share no planet with me? then you should ride your reconditioned vintage fixed-speed waldo-wheels down the hill to meet Big Red - 6.1L of pure Detroit manhood - and put youself outta your misery.
01 May 2009 14:59 AEST
From: BiLo
Everyday is market day
BiLo has a special on bacon- But it now while its cheap.
01 May 2009 11:18 AEST
From: Fitzroy AKA Newtown
Planet
jr, I'm embarrassed to share the same planet as you, not to mention living in an adjacent suburb (of course, Fitzroy is far better than Collingwood, but I'm not surprised a "Texan" would choose that suburb). This is a blog about food, not oil. And I have no doubts as to your polluting, planet-warming opinions. So don't bother. Big Jim. You are disgusting.
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A blog about what the world eats, when and where it eats it, and why it matters to us all. Only much less ambitious than that sounds and with more excruciating puns.
Phil Lees grew up in rural Victoria, the first generation in his family to not have lived on the farm and thereby not slaughter their own meat.
In 2005 he moved to Cambodia and started the nation’s first food blog, Phnomenon.com, named after the best pun that he has ever made. It turns out that Cambodian food is delicious and unlike the warnings in most guidebooks, is not likely to kill you with any immediacy. Gridskipper called him a “national treasure”. Lonely Planet’s Greater Mekong guide called him “the unofficial pimp of Cambodian cuisine”. The New York Times laughed at a funny hotdog he saw.
Phil makes a mean sausage, a hoppy pale ale, a modest laksa. He owns three barbecues and is in the market for a fourth.
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