By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
October 16, 2009
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today confirmed the presence of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in a pig sample collected at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair.
But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said consumers should not be worried about eating pork.
"People cannot get this flu from eating pork or pork products," he said in a statement released today. "Pork is safe to eat."
"We have fully engaged our trading partners to remind them that several international organizations, including the World Organization for Animal Health, have advised that there is no scientific basis to restrict trade in pork and pork products," Vilsack added.
Additional tests on the pig samples are now underway at the University of Minnesota, according to the USDA.
The infection of the fair pig does not suggest infection of commercial herds, the agency said, because show pigs and commercially raised pigs are in separate segments of the swine industry.
And those industries do not typically interchange personnel or animal stock.
The USDA, however, reminds swine producers to be vigilant about good hygiene, biosecurity, and other safety practices to prevent the introduction and spread of influenza viruses in their herds.
The agency also encourages pig producers to join the USDA's swine influenza virus surveillance program.
The pig samples collected at the fair were part of a University of Iowa and University of Minnesota cooperative research project funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That project documents influenza viruses in situation where humans and pigs interact, like fairs.
More information about the USDA's 2009 H1N1 efforts is available at on the agency's Web site.
