Pork expo canceled over fever

The National Pork Producers Council on Wednesday said it canceled its annual June exposition in Des Moines, Iowa, to prevent the highly contagious African swine fever disease from entering the US.

World Pork Expo, held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, usually attracts about 20,000 people and exhibitors over three days, including many from China and other countries that have experienced outbreaks of the disease, according to the group.

In addition to China, African swine fever has been discovered in Vietnam and Europe, but hasn't made an appearance in the United States. The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said on Wednesday that South Africa detected an outbreak of African swine fever.

"Our concern is the health of the US swine herd and the pork producers we represent," Jim Monroe, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) in Washington, told China Daily on Wednesday. "It's unlikely World Pork Expo would be reason for the disease to enter the US, but we decided to exercise extreme caution and cancel the event. We think it's the right decision."

World Pork Expo was last canceled in 2001 because of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom.

The swine disease broke out in China in August 2018 and has spread throughout the country. There is no vaccine to treat the disease, which causes high mortality in domestic and wild pigs. It affects only pigs and presents no human health or food safety risks.

China is the world's biggest hog producer and consumer of pork, the country's most popular meat. Its total imports were worth about $4 billion in 2017. The United States shipped $489 million in pork to China last year.

Last month, China made its biggest purchases of US pork in nearly two years — 23,846 tons of US pork in the week ending March 7, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

China struck deals for the meat despite import tariffs of 62 percent imposed by China on US pork as a consequence of the trade dispute between the two countries. The duties had slashed China's imports of US pork from companies such as Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork company and owned by China-based WH Group Ltd.

The decision to cancel this year's expo comes as more than 100 US pork producers are in Washington this week to meet with members of Congress during the pork council's legislative action conference. They are asking Congress to appropriate funding for 600 new US Customs and Border Protection agriculture inspectors to further strengthen defenses against African swine fever.

US officials ramped up the fight to avoid the virus after Vietnam confirmed its first cases in February. The US Department of Agriculture said it will add more dogs to sniff out illegal pork products at airports and seaports to keep out the contagious disease.

Scott Reeves in New York and Reuters contributed to this story.