A struggling pork industry is bracing themselves for more hardships.

According to Chris Hurt, agricultural economist at Purdue University, Indiana hog farmers have been losing money every quarter over the last year and half, and it the problem is increasing as the swine flu scare lingers in everyone’s minds.

Hurt said hog producers have lost $5 a head as of April 24 and today it is at $20. Since the news of the outbreak the pork industry lost $30 million.

Despite efforts by the Agriculture Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assure the public pork is safe, few people are listening. Especially after a case of swine flu was transmitted through pork in Canada.

That case was rare, and most every case was contracted from person to person.

“I think it is a new twist. It’s one where the pork producers had said it’s not been found in hogs — well, you can’t say that anymore,” Hurt said. “Maybe it’s the hogs that should be more scared of humans at this point. Or, our hog producers really needing to increase their biosecurity to really try to keep it out of our herds here in Indiana.”

Consumers do not realize there are extremely strict health protection standards in practice. State officials work hard to ensure that the standards are always in effect and producers follow them.

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