Canada's agriculture minister and top veterinary officer emphasized again Wednesday that pork is safe to eat, after comments by a WHO official added to the confusion surrounding the H1N1 virus.
"Canadian pork is safe. There is no danger. Bottom line: Canadian pork is safe," Gerry Ritz said Wednesday after serving up pork sandwiches to MPs and government workers at a luncheon on Parliament Hill.
Earlier in the day, however, the director of WHO's Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases told Reuters the blood and meat of pigs infected with a swine subtype of H1N1 may contain the virus.
Jorgen Schlundt cautioned against eating meat from sick and dead pigs infected with swine flu since the virus might survive.
But Canadian officials say that pigs sickened with the virus are not put to market, so the warning is redundant. Pigs that have recovered from the virus can go to market because they pose no threat to people, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.
Dr. Brian Evans of CFIA, said Schlundt had not said anything new.
"The message that is coming out clearly from WHO today, which is standard operating practice in Canada, is the fact that you do not slaughter sick animals and you do not slaughter dead animals for human consumption," he said.
"This doesn't change anything in Canada. What the WHO is saying is what we do every day, every week, every month, every year as part of our food inspection system."
The Canadian food system has safeguards to keep diseased pigs from making it to the market, Evans said, including screenings on farms, at slaughterhouses, and on the processing line.
"There is no reason to stop eating pork," added Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer. "The inspection system in Canada does address all those issues."
Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council, told Â鶹´«Ã½net said he was "concerned" about the WHO official's comments.
"But what most important to know is that any animal that is sick or unhealthy does not go to market," he said from Parliament Hill. "We have a great inspection system through CFIA, it is absolutely safe to eat the pork that we produce."
Since CFIA announced on Saturday that a herd in Alberta had contracted the H1N1 virus about a dozen countries have banned Canadian swine or pork, including China and Russia.
