Pork industry lobbies to change name of “Swine Flu”

Are you afraid of eating pork thanks to the outbreak of the swine flu? Or, more accurately, the outbreak of media hysteria over swine flu?

Well, don't worry about it, you can't catch a respiratory disease like flu from a slab of applewood smoked bacon or inch-thick chop, no matter how undercooked. This new strain that's affecting humans hasn't even been found in pigs. But that's not stopping the hysteria bandwagon.

Which means that American pork producers have had to go on the offensive.

This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2009.