Pig Virus Continues To Spread, Raising Fears Of Pricier Bacon
Pork producers across the country are grappling with a virus that's going after piglets. Livestock economists estimate the porcine epidemic diarrhea, or PED, virus has already killed about 1 million baby pigs in the U.S. since it was first found in Iowa last spring.
Canada reported its first case Thursday, and the disease shows no sign of abating. That has veterinarians worried.
"It's easy to imagine that we could have lost a million pigs, and before the winter is over I wouldn't be surprised if that impact would be maybe three, four times that," says Rodney Baker, a professor of veterinary medicine at Iowa State University. Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kansas are the hardest hit, but the disease has appeared in 23 states.
So what's a pork lover to think? Is this going to send the price of bacon sky high?
The good news is: not yet.
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