Are you experiencing pork panic?

The CDC says eating pork products is safe, yet there is a pork panic emerging. Are you panicking?

Wed, Apr 29 2009 at 8:28 AM EST

The New York Times this morning has an interesting piece about the effect that the swine flu is having on the pork industry. Despite the fact that CDC has said that the swine flu cannot be contracted from eating pork, some people and some countries are not comfortable with pork from Mexico or the U.S.

There is a “global hesitation over eating pork,” and the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Ecuador, China and Russia have all imposed some sort of ban on pork or meat imports. Wall Street analysts are predicting poor pork sales in grocery stores.

There is a movement going on in the U.S. by farm groups wanting to rename swine flu. They would prefer it to be called “North American influenza.” I understand their desire to rename it, but North American influenza doesn’t seem like a much better label. I would think that the rest of the world wouldn’t just be afraid of pork from North America; they’d be afraid of the whole continent.

Many experts don’t believe that pigs are playing any role in transmitting the disease now, even if it did originate with pigs yet there is an emerging pork panic. And, with this morning’s sad announcement of the first confirmed death in the U.S. due to the swine flu of a 23-month-old child, pork panic is likely to increase.

My question to you is are you eating pork right now, or do you have pork panic?

If you have pork panic, what’s causing it? Is it because you don’t trust that the product isn’t contaminated or does it just give you the willies in general because of the wine flu or is their some other reason?

If you are still frying up bacon for breakfast and chops for dinner, tell us why.