Mexico Officials Pig Out On Pork To Ease Flu Fears

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials are going hog-wild over pork to encourage their countrymen to put the pig back in the taco.

Two hundred government employees downed heaps of pork rinds and fried, tortilla-wrapped meat Thursday at a Labor Department garden party. Waiters in black vests, white collars and blue surgical masks served the lunching workers as they chatted underneath white tents to the soothing tunes of jazz music.

The pork party was part of an Agriculture Department publicity campaign to convince Mexicans it's safe to eat the meat despite swine flu fears.

Although experts say the virus isn't transmitted through meat, plummeting sales have cost the pork industry 2.5 billion pesos ($188 million) since the outbreak, according to the Mexican Confederation of Pork Farmers.

Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said the pig-out was held to demonstrate to "Mexico and the world that it is perfectly safe and very delicious and nutritious to eat pork."

Several countries including China, Russia and Ukraine banned Mexican pork products after the swine flu outbreak.

Introduced by Spanish conquerors, pork is widely popular here and the main ingredient in traditional dishes such as tacos al pastor, a greasy, spit-roasted snack found on street corners everywhere, and pozole, a hominy and pork stew.

Agriculture Secretary Alberto Cardenas said the Mexican government will buy more pork meat to feed soldiers, sailors and state oil company workers in a boost for the industry.

Comments

[research]

03:08 PM on 05/15/2009

Outlaw Pig domestication and save 100's of millions of Human lives.

Pigs breeds deadly epidemics.

Pigs are unique in their ability to mix avian human and pigs viruses.

Cows don't, sheep don't.

Pigs do.

We can live just fine without pork.

[thenorthshore]

12:46 PM on 05/15/2009

mmmm

carnitas

[jsgaetano]

10:17 AM on 05/15/2009

I loves me some pork! They can send some over my way.

[rolodex]

02:32 AM on 05/15/2009

So why in the hell were the chefs wearing surgical masks? Medical experts have weighed in on this and said that if you are healthy, the masks do no good for you at all. If you are already sick, you should be wearing a mask so you don't spew germs when you cough thus infecting others. The mask does not protect the wearer, it protects others from the wearer if he is already sick.

[Newsmonger]

02:23 PM on 05/15/2009

file it under: "it is better to be cautious than to be sorry"

I do not think every chef out there have been tested and cleared of this virus and even if that was possible, anyone can get effected at anytime or minute; so it is better to assume that the other person is infected and take proper steps to protect yourself. This is especially true in Mexico where this virus is wide spread.

Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and for up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that one may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before he/she know he/she are sick, as well as while he/she is sick.

[ranchero42]

09:29 PM on 05/14/2009

This is the cue for the GOP to call a press conference and gorge themselves on fried liver mush. Yum!

[jsgaetano]

10:18 AM on 05/15/2009

The Goopers are still hiding under their beds, afraid the big scary brown people are going to attack their double-wide. While riding on flu-carrying pigs, no doubt.