The latest outbreak of swine flu, which has the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic, has now been linked to unsanitary conditions at a factory farm in Mexico.  The disturbing, and not entirely surprising, news has not been widely reported in the U.S., but many reports in Mexico are tracking the source of the outbreak to a massive hog-raising operation owned by Smithfield Food, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer. While further investigation is obviously necessary, the town of Perote, Mexico, where the Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)) is located, is considered to be where the outbreak originated.

It’s still unclear how the virus is now spreading between humans without animal contact, but the possible connection should hopefully be enough to convince the global community that unhealthy industrial farming practices put us all at risk.  The pork industry is, of course, vehemently denying any links, but it seems pretty likely to me.  Nobody’s suggesting that any one is contracting the virus by eating pork products, but these factory farms must be reformed to protect animals, workers and the public in general.

Let’s hope that this public health emergency can be brought under control quickly, and that we begin to look more closely at how we can prevent similar outbreaks.