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Mexico extends post-flu pork campaign

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-17 10:35

MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican government Tuesday launched measures to encourage pork consumption, which declined sharply after the outbreak of A(H1N1) flu in the country.

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The Agriculture Ministry will organize tastings of pork products in 713 ministry-run Rural Development Support Centers and 193 District Development Offices, the ministry said in a statement.

"It is important to continue supporting this sector, so that it can return to growth," Agriculture Minister Alberto Cardenas Jimenez said at a ceremony launching the campaign, co-hosted by Enrique Avila Segura, president of the Mexican Pork Farmers Federation.

Cardenas Jimenez said that in June, a total of 470,000 pigs were slaughtered in state-approved slaughterhouses, up from 250,000 in April, when the flu outbreak began in Mexico.

The disease, which has killed 108 people in the country, was initially called swine flu, until the World Health Organization requested a name change because the virus contained a blend of bird, pig and human viruses.