NPPC Briefs U.S. Trade Partners on H1N1
By Pork news source
| Tuesday, September 15, 2009
At a briefing Monday evening, the National Pork Producers Council told foreign officials that the U.S. pork industry and the U.S. government are gearing up for a return of the novel H1N1 flu and that both would continue to get out the messages that the flu is not transmitted through food (pork) and that pork is safe to eat.
“We’re all dealing with the H1N1 flu in our respective countries,” NPPC Chief Executive Officer Neil Dierks told embassy officials from 25 countries at a reception with members of NPPC’s board of directors. “We just need to remember that the flu is not a food-borne illness; you can’t get the H1N1 flu from eating pork.”
NPPC has been working with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reopen to U.S. pork exports markets that were closed in the wake of the H1N1 flu outbreak, which received wide media attention starting April 24. While most nations that had them in place have lifted their bans on U.S. pork, China and a few other countries have maintained them, citing fears of H1N1, which much of the media misnamed “swine” flu. China was the third largest U.S. pork export market in 2008, buying nearly $690 million of U.S. pork and pork products.
The pork export bans and a drop in consumer demand in the weeks following initial reports on the H1N1 flu, coupled with rising production costs and a worldwide economic slowdown that began two years ago, have cost the U.S. pork industry more than $4.6 billion. U.S. pork producers lost an average of nearly $25 per market hog and a combined $991 million from April 24 to mid-August.
NPPC’s briefing followed a Sept. 9 briefing by the Obama administration on the U.S. government’s H1N1 response and surveillance efforts for trade officials from 30 countries.
Also, see the H1N1 Resource Center on Porkmag.com.
Source: NPPC
