Alert issued for missing quarantined pigs
US - Maryland agriculture officials have issued a health alert to nearly a dozen states – from Indiana to Georgia – warning about pigs that are missing from a farm that was under quarantine.“Testing of some of the swine on the farm (and escaped pigs captured just outside the farm) were positive for several diseases of human health importance,” including trichinosis and toxoplasmosis, officials wrote in a letter dated Sept. 29 and addressed to state veterinarians in Indiana, Ohio, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and New Jersey.
“All the pigs on the farm (about 102) are now missing,” officials wrote. “We would appreciate it if you could make inquiries to livestock market operators in your state to determine if they may have received a consignment of pigs from Maryland sometime after Sept. 18.”
A spokesman with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said this week that consumers shouldn’t be worried about pork products on the market, but should exercise basic sanitary practices, such as thoroughly cooking raw meat.
Source: Fort Wayne