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Chinese hog producer Muyuan Foods has built the world’s largest multi-storey pig farm – despite fears of a new swine flu strain causing a ‘potential pandemic’.
The food giant’s mega farm is located near Nanyang and can hold around 84,000 sows and their offspring – with plans to produce more than two million pigs annually.
‘Cash flow is ample’
According to Reuters, this is roughly 10 times the size of a typical breeding facility in the U.S. In the first nine months of this year, Muyuan’s profits skyrocketed a staggering 1,413 percent.
Qin Jun, Muyuan’s vice general manager told the publication: “We have hit a very favorable period for development.
“Pig prices are very high, our profits are really good, and cash flow is really ample.”
Swine flu
Last year, it was reported that up to 200 million pigs could be culled or die from outbreaks of African swine fever that spread across the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs declared China’s hog herd had plummeted a staggering 41 percent in October compared to the year before.
This caused the price of pork to spike 110 percent – the highest level of inflation the industry has seen in eight years.
Pandemic potential
More recently, a new strain of swine flu discovered in China is said to have the ‘characteristics of viruses with the potential to cause a human pandemic’.
The strain has genes from a mix of pig, avian and human viruses and genes from the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic virus.
According to Dr. Munoz, a member of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, the findings should not be ‘taken lightly’.
“We shouldn’t let our guard down with influenza because there’s always going to be a possibility of new threats from emerging strains, and hopefully we can learn from our experience with COVID to be better prepared,” she added.
“This is also a reminder of why we need to be part of the global community and the WHO for sure.”
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