Northey decries pork import restrictions

DES MOINES – Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey called Monday for an end to international restrictions on U.S. pork imports linked to the H1N1 flu outbreak that are costing Iowa farmers millions of dollars each week.

Northey expressed concern that 16 countries continue to have official or unofficial bans on U.S. pork imports. He said the countries took the action in response to the H1N1 flu outbreak despite the fact that properly cooked and handled pork and pork products are safe, as confirmed by U.S. and international health organizations.

“It has now been over a month since the H1N1 flu outbreak and it is vital that these countries reopen their markets to U.S. pork,” said Northey, a first-term Spirit Lake Republican. “While the initial action by these and other countries to ban U.S. pork were unjustified, the fact that the restrictions persist show that these trade barriers are not -- and never have been -- based on science.”

Northey, in an interview, said not having access to those potential markets “is certainly worth a few million dollars a week to us.”

According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture 8,758 Iowa farmers raised over 47 million hogs with a value of $4.8 billion, he said.

“Iowa is the No. 1 pork-producing state in the nation and Iowa farmer who raise hogs face significant hardship due to the actions of these countries,” he added.

Northey said the Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, St. Lucia, Indonesia, Thailand, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Armenia have banned all U.S. pork. Also,  Russia and China have bans in place for some of their states, and Korea has banned the import of live hogs.  Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Macedonia also have unofficial bans in place, he said.