back to article Pork industry in 'swine flu' tag beef

The pork industry is a little bit upset that the "swine flu" tag attached to the terrifying mutated H1N1 death virus, currently making short work of journalistic common sense worldwide, might hit sales hard. Despite there being no scientific proof whatsoever that pig plague can be caught from pork products, some countries have …

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  1. Tony

    You're not entitled to a title

    'There is no danger from eating pork. All transmissions so far have been human to human transmission.'

    So you're saying I should start eating more bacon and less Mexicans?

  2. Duncan Hothersall
    Happy

    Excellent

    More cheap meat soon.

  3. Luis Ogando
    Paris Hilton

    Not Surprised

    Once the sensationalist media jump onboard it's Bandwagon Panic City!!

    I remember during the Mad Cow epidemic that threatened to reduce the entire bovine-feasting population of Earth to quivering rabble, US visitors not buying Arran sweaters in case they caught the disease.

    Still, look on the bright side, all the more bacon for everyone else!

    Paris, 'cos I bet she's got vertical bacon (fnaar fnaar!!)

  4. Ross Fleming
    Paris Hilton

    @Duncan Hothersall and Lester

    Duncan - sad news is it'll probably end up more expensive as we get "government approved swine-flu-free bacon (with extra Omega 3)" and a hefty certification process.

    And Lester, shame on you! How dare you let common sense get in the way of a good old fashioned mass panic! Though oddly, this time round it's not being used in the "you still need us" approach from our HM gov, but more in a "our government is failing us and doing nothing!!"

    Thank goodness they protected us from SARS, bird flu and so on. I am grateful for that.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    bad pun alert

    "The WHO is having none of it, and will stick with the name "because the virus is of the type that affects pigs""

    What's Roger Daltrey got to do with it?

    I know, I know... the one with Pinball Wizard on the back please

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Yummmm

    I've just had a pork chop (my favourite) - and I plan on plenty more.

    As a scientist, I'm really surprised no-one has asked more questions about why this flu only kills Mexicans and just gives everyone else mild symptoms. If you're in the business of scaring everyone to death (like the WHO) these sort of niggly details matter because they show your model's probably wrong. That can be highly embarrassing if people are making momentous decisions based on it.

    Traditionally we'd depend on the world's newshounds to ask these awkward questions, but I guess they've all grown fat and don't chase sticks any more.

    At the very least this amazing lethality to Mexicans is rather puzzling. More importantly, it may mean that either there's a may to protect yourself (relinquish your Mexican nationality) or that the dreaded swine-flu isn't really very dangerous at all.

    Best theory I've heard so far is that an order of magnitude more Mexicans have been infected than the official figures say, and they've mostly just shrugged it off and not bothered going to a doctor. This would make the flu far less lethal than it appears and the over-reaction far more absurd than it appears.

    Better buy your pork quick, before everyone realises.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    can't make this stuff up

    Over here, one of the local rags was calling it "avian swine flu" - so when I start seeing flying pigs with the sniffles around here, I shall be very worried.

  8. Dave Bell

    Ugly Rumours.

    1: The virus is a mix of genes found in human, avian, and swine influenza. This fits very well with a very near ancestor of the strain being in pigs.

    2: There are some very large pig farming operations in the area where the disease appears to have started, and WHO are checking on them. We're talking about incredibly large feed-lot operations, and some claims have been made of general disease problems before this ever started.

    3: Even if it isn't the best name, I wouldn't want to confuse people by changing the name now.

  9. Codge
    Coat

    Pork sword?

    > There is no danger from eating pork.

    Thank fsck for that. I've just had pork chops for tea.

    And pork sword is back on the menu for 'er indoors...

    The "stab" proof one.

  10. jake Silver badge

    Daftness.

    Here in the SF Bay Area, both channel 7 news (KGO) and channel 2 news (KTVU) spent nearly 10 minutes of their respective half hour mid-day broadcasts on this so-called "problem". Both news channels carefully skirted around the age, health & sanitation issues of the folks who have died of this strain of influenza, and barely touched on the fact that nobody in the US has died, yet. (My condolences to the bereaved, and I mean that. I'm not making light of anyone's death here.)

    During the meanwhile, in a 10 second throw-away spot on a potential hospital closing in the East Bay, one of the administrators commented on the KTVU news that TB is on an upswing, with over ten deaths this month already in that one hospital alone.

    Spot the real potential problem & win a bacon sarnie.

  11. Charles Manning

    Perfectly safe....

    except for growing a third tit from all the hormones and crap in feedlot pork.

    Once again this underlines how politicians will bend public stupidity to their own ends.

  12. Peter Gant

    OK, No Problem

    Cheap pork bangers for tea tonight then.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Journalists

    I like the comments about journalists. Funnily enough where I work there are jornalists who do the news and one of them was saying that they wouldn't touch pork because of the Pig Flu. They said that they're not convinced that it's safe to eat.

    Now I know jornalists can be funny types but I would have thought that unless you eat the pork raw then surely any virii would have been erradicated by cooking.

    Flame because of just how I like my pork - flame grilled.

    Rob

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    RE: Not Surprised

    Luis Ogando wrote "Paris, 'cos I bet she's got vertical bacon (fnaar fnaar!!)"

    If I had my way with her, she'd have "tender loins"

    (Getting my coat already folks)

  15. chris

    no gastric transmission

    No, but you eat cheap meat, you make disease outbreaks more likely.

  16. Pierre

    Ho noes!

    There goes my beloved banana, ham and cheese recipe!

    http://www.grouprecipes.com/68635/paula-deens-cheesy-banana-ham-casserole.html

    Killer bananas from Costa Rica, megaflu-infected ham, mad-cow-charged cheese.... I'm gonna die thrice!

    (not to mention that those eggs are probably super-high in Salmonella)

  17. jake Silver badge

    @AC 18:53

    "What's Roger Daltrey got to do with it?"

    I think it was Roger Waters ... Wrong band, right species ;-)

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Chris

    "No, but you eat cheap meat, you make disease outbreaks more likely."

    Specious nonsense. Possibly true, but only using anecdotal evidence.

  19. Simon Robinson
    Flame

    @AC 19:33

    The reason it only affect Mexicans is because they kept upsetting the A-Team. Amazing how cequickly BA and Hannibal Smith can put together a highly contagious flu virus with an acetylene torch and an old Army Jeep...

  20. Mr Larrington
    Coat

    We're all doomed!

    It's the Aporkalypse!

    Mine's the one with the ham sarnies in the pocket.

  21. A J Stiles
    Coat

    Hmm

    Let's look at this logically:

    P1. Flu is caused by a virus.

    P2. He who eats an undercooked pork product will be summoned in short order to the bathroom, and there receive a brief but stern lecture upon the benefits of thoroughly cooking one's food. With full orchestral accompaniment.

    P3. The two-bob bits is caused by bacteria.

    P4. Viruses are easier to kill than bacteria.

    Given premises P1, P2, P3 and P4, we can deduce a conclusion C:

    C. If pork has been cooked thoroughly enough to kill bacteria, then there will definitely be no viruses in it.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    News :(

    Sky news is as bad. 15 minutes of 30 about this crap.

    Oh well, I will add Dont eat pork to the idiot Vegans who drink chocolate milk because its not from a cow......

  23. Chris Wright
    Coat

    hehe

    I thought I had swine flu this morning, I woke up with rashers .....

    =p

  24. dreadful scathe
    Go

    indonesians

    ah people. Aren't they funny. At least Indonesia are consistant, when they bird flu scare happened they destroyed all non-indonesian birds either flying into their air space or imported live or as food.

    But, I would worry for the indonesian tourist industry if the flu was renamed "North American Flu"

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