Trichinosis hogs missing

Maryland issues multi-state alert for missing pigs

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)--State agriculture officials have warned states from Indiana to Georgia about more than 100 pigs that have disappeared from a Carroll County farm under quarantine.

Maryland officials believe the pigs may be infected with trichinosis, a harmful parasite. The quarantine has been in effect since April 1, when an emaciated pig infected with trichinosis was found on the 112-acre Marston farm belonging to Carroll L. Schisler Sr. and Carroll L. Schisler Jr.

"Testing of some of the swine on the farm (and escaped pigs captured just outside the farm) were positive for several diseases of human health importance," including trichinosis and toxoplasmosis, officials wrote in a letter dated Sept. 29 and addressed to state veterinarians.

"All the pigs on the farm (approximately 102) are now missing," officials wrote. "We would appreciate it if you could make inquiries to livestock market operators in your state to determine if they may have received a consignment of pigs from Maryland sometime after September 18."

The letter was sent to agriculture officials in Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and New Jersey.

County, state and federal inspectors raided the farm in March and April and found decomposing carcasses, piles of bones, livestock feeding on rotting trash and the decaying bodies of other animals. Swine feeding on garbage or carcasses would be prone to trichinosis, health inspectors said.

The Schislers were indicted in July on 19 criminal counts stemming from the raids, including animal cruelty, feeding garbage to swine and selling contaminated meat on the property.

State officials had planned on Sept. 14 to test 105 pigs on the farm but found the gates locked. They returned Oct. 3, but found only one pig. Officials were concerned that the pigs may have been taken to slaughterhouses.

The elder Schisler doesn't know what happened to the animals, his attorney, Roland Walker, said.

A spokesman with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Oct. 5 that consumers shouldn't be worried about pork products on the market, but should exercise basic sanitary practices, such as thoroughly cooking raw meat.

"Trichinosis is a very, very rare thing in America now," Steven Cohen, a spokesman with the federal agency, told The (Baltimore) Sun. "I don't want to alarm people, but it is a good thing to remember (to thoroughly cook meat) to eliminate food-borne pathogens."

Date: 10/26/06

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