Oklahoma Pork Council: Pork Products Safe

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- While there are still no confirmed cases of the virus in Oklahoma, the state could still be impacted in a big way. The virus being labeled the swine flu is hurting Oklahoma's pork industry, but how much?

While shoppers at Crest have had some concerns with pork it hasn't prevented them from buying it, but even just those small concerns are having a big impact on pork producers.

Ray Jones and his wife are buying pork and lots of it.

"We've got two pork tenderloins, two butterfly pork chops and two slabs of pork ribs," Jones said.

Concerns the recent H1N1 virus originated in pigs from Mexico is having little impact on the couple.

"Maybe I'm too trusting, but it's not an issue with me, I'm buying pork today," Jones said.

"The statements are the same which is that it's safe to buy pork, eat it and consume it," Crest in Edmond Meat Manager Jim Jackson said.

Jackson has received numerous letters from health officials confirming what he already knew, that pork is not a problem.

"Just because it says ‘Swine Flu' it has nothing to do with the pork product itself," Jackson said.

But while grocery stores like Crest appear unaffected, not everyone's as lucky.

"This should have been called the H1N1 influenza from day one," Executive Director of Oklahoma's Pork Council Roy Lee Lindsey said.

Lindsey has seen shares of pork drop since Swine Flu became a household name. Tyson Foods shares dropped nine percent Monday, while Smith's Foods dropped 11 percent.

"And what that translates to is our live animals are just not worth as much when we go to sell them," Lindsey said.

While pork producers will be impacted the big question is going to be how much and the Oklahoma Pork Council says they likely won't know that until we start to see the sales of pork over the past couple of weeks.

The other big concern facing pork producers is how other countries are responding to the H1N1 scare. An estimated 25 percent of U.S. pork is exported.