Trichinosis still hurting pig farmers

My first trip of 2007 was to Kansas City for a National Pork Board Conference. They held a tremendous meeting with swine Extension educators from across the entire country to discuss various methods for delivering timely information to pork producers in an efficient and effective manner. Other topics covered were the effects of the growing demand for corn for ethanol production, diseases affecting today's pork operations and a quick look at what policy issues could continue to hinder production. However, education overwhelmingly dominated this conversation.

I conducted several interviews including one with Dr. Patrick Webb, Director of Swine Health Service for the National Pork Board. We covered a broad range of topics but somehow the conversation turned to trichinosis. Trichinosis? Why would we talk about that in the year 2007?

After visiting with Dr. Webb, I just randomly polled a young lady, probably in her twenties, who was waiting in the meeting room of the Plaza. I began by asking her if she could talk to a pig farmer, what would she ask? She was interested in learning how they get the pig from a live animal to the products she sees in the store. She included a really strange word in her sentence--"train". She wanted to know how they "train" the pigs to sit still so they could be cut up. Unfortunately, I don't believe this young lady would be much different than any random consumer you might find on the street.

I asked her if she ate pork? "Oh, no! I never eat pork. It is dirty and full of worms." I found the "full of worms" part to be very interesting considering that the majority of the people in this country still overcook pork. I couldn't believe a person of that generation from urban America would correlate worms with pork. Either way, it gave me a great window of opportunity to educate this young lady about the actual safety of the most-consumed meat product in the world, pork.

Just as a good reminder, the Center for Disease Control tells us that trichinosis, is caused by eating raw or undercooked meat of animals infected with the larvae of a species of worm called Trichinella. Infection occurs commonly in certain wild carnivorous (meat-eating) animals but may also occur in domestic pigs.

Infection was once very common and usually caused by ingestion of undercooked pork. However, infection is now relatively rare. During 1997 to 2001, an average of 12 cases per year were reported. The number of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw-meat garbage to hogs, commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork products. Cases are less commonly associated with pork products and more often associated with eating raw or undercooked wild game meats.

Trichinosis is nearly nonexistent from commercial grain-fed pigs but Americans still overcook pork. I include most farm families in that because we, as consumers, have this notion so ingrained into our minds that we just naturally overcook it. We all know that pork is rarely the eating experience it has the potential to be in restaurants simply because it is usually overcooked. Incidentally, the USDA recognizes 160 degrees F as the safe internal temperature for pork.

Despite decades of work to eradicate a disease and millions of dollars spent educating consumers and promoting healthy meats, we still have a perception problem that leads to an unpleasant eating quality issue. People think there are worms in the meat, so they overcook it and then they don't enjoy eating it. Obviously millions of dollars are also being spent to sustain and perpetuate any negative stereotypes that may have ever existed about pork. Future generations are being persuaded to believe that using animals for food is wrong and potential consumers are being driven away from our product.

The game is heading down the homestretch with just a few seconds on the clock. The final play of the real championship series is in our hands. Can we come up with the winning strategy? It isn't just up to the Pork Board or the USDA or anybody else for that matter when it comes to promoting our product. It is up to each and every one of us to tell our story and spread the word about the work we do and the safe, healthy (worm-free) products we produce. Now get out there team and show 'em what we're made of!

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Date: 1/11/07

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