Dive Brief:
- Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, the fast-spreading disease that is causing havoc in the pork industry, may also pose a threat to human health, albeit an indirect threat.
- Environmentalists have grown worried about the effects of millions of pig corpses on groundwater in pork-producing regions.
- Roughly 100,000 animals have died from the PED virus every week since the illness first appeared in Iowa in May of last year.
Dive Insight:
Concerns about the pig corpses are being driven by the publication of photos showing rotting animal corpses left in ditches and crates in North Carolina.
As PEDv continues to spread across the country, and as the price of pork products continues to rise as a result, it's becoming increasingly clear that things will get worse before they get better. Perhaps the present crisis will prompt federal regulators to force the industry to adopt more sanitary procedures.