Pig Diarrhea Epidemic Behind Pork Price Increase

An epi­demic diar­rhea virus known as PEDv is rag­ing through hog farms and affect­ing piglets in the United States. Now, some con­sumers are won­der­ing if pork will be avail­able just as the bar­be­cue sea­son begins to heat up. Oth­ers are con­cerned about what it may cost too.

The Bryan Times reports today that while some butch­ers say pork prices are on the rise, so far, they haven’t had any dif­fi­culty in get­ting pork.

Report­edly, there have not been any cases of the pig diar­rhea virus in Williams County but some cases have shown up in Ful­ton County and in Indi­ana.

The dis­ease is not fatal to the sows or adult hogs, but it does kill young piglets.

It also does not pose any dan­ger to humans.

The U.S. Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture has not issued any new reg­u­la­tions for pork processors.