Luxembourg - There is no known link between eating pork and catching swine flu, European Union health ministers were set to insist Thursday at an emergency meeting on the disease. According to a draft declaration from the meeting seen by the German Press Agency dpa, the ministers were set to stress that there is "currently no scientific evidence of any link between this disease and the consumption of pork meat or products."
That is because the virus is "related to human-to-human transmission," the draft statement says.
Many EU member states have sizeable pig-farming communities, and are anxious to protect them from a public panic which could have a devastating impact on sales.
Since the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico first caused alarm in Europe at the weekend, EU officials have been at pains to reassure their citizens that there is no known risk involved in eating pork.
Among others, officials have pointed out that the bloc does not import any pork products, stressed that cooking meat properly kills any virus, and insisted that the disease should be called "novel flu," to avoid "misunderstandings."
