Swine flu hits pigs -- will pork panic follow?


Pigs at the Minnesota state fair have tested positive for the H1N1 "swine" flu virus in preliminary tests.

Confirmation tests are pending, but this could be bad news and cause panic within the pork industry. Pork belly futures and companies like Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), Tyson (NYSE: TSN), and Hormel (NYSE: HRL) are a few that could be affected.

For the casual observer, the headline that pigs have the swine flu would not be newsworthy. A swine is a pig, so pigs having the pig flu isn't really news is it?

Initially, H1N1 was referred to as the swine flu. Then Egypt started slaughtering pigs and the World Health Organization (WHO) started insisting reporters refer to the flu to as H1N1. The WHO has worked very hard to not let bad news from H1N1 effect the pork industry. Earlier in the year, pigs in Argentina and other countries had been found infected with the virus.

It only took a few cases of mad cow disease to set off a panic in the beef industry a few years ago. Several countries, including Japan, banned American beef imports and prices plummeted. A similar panic could easily be set off in the pork industry, even if the Minnesota Pork Board insists pork is safe.

Ironically, the pigs may have gotten the flu from humans at the fair.

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