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A couple of nights ago on the news I was surprised to see a rather lengthy segment concerning swine flu - in regards to people suddenly not buying any pork. The segment went on to accurately measure the temperature during and after cooking of tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet). They explained that to kill any germs it should be over 70C - and tonkatsu easily maintains over 85C for some time.

The WHO website says the same thing, and that there is no known transmission via pork.

At first I thought it was a rather odd thing to show on the news. But then I thought about other situations. Avian flu can be transmitted via consumption - but it seems only if it’s raw contaminated poultry blood. And the best way to get Mad Cow disease is to eat an infected cow. So initially it made sense to be cautious. Probably not as cautious as Egypt are being slaughtering all pigs over the next 6 months (but I suspect there are more factors than just swine flu prevention at play there).

The question is how long this will go on for. It took a long time for the beef industry to make some recovery - well the US beef industry anyway, as the Japanese and Australian ones made a “killing” filling the gap. You hardly see any vegetables of Chinese origin in the supermarket since the contaminated gyoza scare - and now all vegetables have their origin listed on the labels (at least in supermarkets not necessarily smaller fruit and vegetable shops). The origin of both chicken and fish - in fact most products - is a big selling (and pricing) factor, and there is much propaganda in regards to the high quality of Japanese domestic products - even though Japan has had several food contamination issues of its very own.

The most dangerous imports in the case of swine flu are people. The timing is unfortunate for Japan in regards to Golden Week and the huge number of people who travel during this time. About 47,000 people passed through Narita Airport on the outgoing “Rush” - headed to various destinations. Trying to check everyone coming back will be a huge ordeal. It will rely on people cooperating and using common sense.

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OMG PANIC!!!11!! We are doooooooooomed.

• I’ve been down to the supermarket a few times this week, but was disappointed to see that pork product prices (say that three times fast!) have not gone down. The staff are starting to get used to me hovering around them when they’re arranging canned food, hoping to see a “Special!” stick go up.

  Alnedra
  Location: Singapore
  09/05/07 09:42 PM

• Maybe you should try coughing and spluttering near the food you want them to discount?

  MJD-S
  Location: blech-land
  09/05/07 11:15 PM

• Have you seen that some hospitals in Tokyo are turning away people with fevers and flu symptoms?

  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHvGCk3YMUhytZWA_Qr3iEr7FYSw

  Totally love this bit:

  “Among those turned away were a few who said they worked at Tokyo’s Narita international airport, had visited a tourist spot frequented by foreigners, or had a foreign friend, the official said.”

  Kristen
  09/05/07 11:24 PM

• That’s a great trick Alnedra!! Might have a try for this

  Ben
  09/06/17 01:47 PM