Flu's name worries swine producers

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Canadian Pork Council has made a formal request to Canada’s health ministry to change the name of a new influenza that is confirmed to have killed seven people and suspected to have infected more than 1,000 others in Mexico.

Wilma Jeffray, chair of Ontario Pork, says the national council’s request echoes a statement today from the World Animal Health Organization noting that the new strain of A/H1N1 influenza has been incorrectly identified as swine flu and should instead be called the North American influenza.

Jeffray says it’s still too soon to know how the flu might affect Ontario’s hog industry.

“The impact really will be determined by whether countries around the world will make decisions about trade based on science and fact,” she says. “If they do that it won’t be a problem. But we all know the political enters this and it (decisions) isn’t always based on fact and science.”

On its website, the World Health Organization notes that no strain of swine flu can be caught by eating properly prepared pork products, and researchers in the United States have not yet determined if the virus affects pigs. Nevertheless, China, Russia and Indonesia have banned pork products from Mexico and parts of the United States.

The Philippines has extended its ban on pork products from these countries to include Canada.

Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council, says there are indications other countries may be pondering similar steps to the Philippines. “When you get into these trade arenas these issues can be twisted for purposes of limiting trade and we’re seeing that,” he says.

Markets recovering

Ken McEwan, a University of Guelph professor specializing in agricultural economics, says grain prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange had begun to recover by noon today after dropping Monday, and hog prices seem to be stabilizing, as are shares for major processors such as Smithfield Foods Inc.

“The general consensus seems to be that the markets seemed to overreact yesterday,” he says.

He notes price fluctuations in corn and soybeans, which some U.S. analysts have linked to speculation the flu would reduce livestock feed consumption, could also have to do with rainy weather that’s making planting difficult.

Foreign workers pose little threat

Ken Forth, chair of the Ontario agricultural industry’s Labour Issues Coordinating Committee, says Mexican workers entering Canada under the federal temporary foreign worker program pose little threat to public health.

Federal statistics show that in 2008, 16,777 seasonal agricultural workers came to Canada from Mexico under the program. Of these workers, 7,746 came to Ontario.

Forth says workers are employed in several different commodities and arrive at different times of the year. “Half the workers are here already.” As well, the program requires workers undergo a physical examination before leaving Mexico, he adds.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson Danielle Norris says the Mexican government has introduced additional screening measures for workers in the program that includes a physical examination within 24 hours of departing Mexico.

Four workers in a group of 75 screened yesterday have been detained in Mexico because of respiratory infection. She says tests have confirmed the infections are not the new flu.

Hog producers should observe biosecurity protocols

Rice notes that the Canadian hog industry employs some workers under the program.

The Council and the Canadian Swine Health Board are encouraging producers to observe biosecurity protocols, including not allowing workers who have recently returned from Mexico into barns until seven days after their return to Canada. BF

Update:

Thirteen cases of the flu have been confirmed in Canada as of this morning. Four of those are in Ontario.