U.S. Pork Industry Avoids Swine Flu (So Far)

Despite the speculations of a couple of bloggers over the weekend, there is as yet no known hard evidence linking the swine flu epidemic to the American pork industry, or in particular to Smithfield Foods (SFD), which owns pork plants in Mexico, including in the area where the outbreak may have originated.

There is, however, plenty of reason to investigate whether Smithfield's operations—or some other confined animal feedlot operation—were involved with the outbreak.

A Smithfield spokeswoman declined to comment on Sunday morning, referring all questions to the National Pork Board. I am awaiting comment from them, as well as from U.S. regulatory agencies.

Later on Sunday, the company issued a brief news release stating that it "has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the company's swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico." The company "has no reason to believe that the virus is in any way connected to its operations in Mexico," according to the statement.

Smithfield runs pork-raising operations in the area where the outbreak may have originated. Those operations are owned by a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll.

Among the questions Smithfield chose not to answer were whether the company is working with federal officials to determine the cause of the outbreak and whether any U.S.-based Smithfield personnel have traveled to Mexico to investigate the matter. Granjas Carroll itself had earlier denied that its operations were involved. In early Monday trading, Smithfield shares were down about 12 percent.

On Saturday, Tom Philpott of the environmental site Grist wrote a post speculating that a Granjas Carroll operation might be the source of the outbreak. The headline: "Swine-flu outbreak linked to Smithfield factory farms."

No such link, however, has yet been established. Philpott also wondered why big American media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post hadn't yet reported on whether Smithfield's Mexican operations were the source. His Web searches, he wrote, turned up nothing.

He did find some mention of Granjas Carroll on the Web sites of some Mexican newspapers. Those articles also seem to have been based on speculation, including from people who live in the area.