You can still eat bacon

Hard hit by the misimpression that swine flu is spread by eating pork, the Canadian pork industry is mounting a PR campaign to try to mitigate the pandemic’s impact, the Canadian Press reports. The health crisis is just the latest blow to a sector that’s been hurt by weaker demand for pork products, reduced exports and higher feed prices. Maple Leaf spokeswoman Linda Smith said the company is supporting the World Organisation for Animal Health’s call to get rid of the "swine flu" name:  “as it hasn’t been isolated in animals and is not related to pork products," she says. Paul Hodgman, executive director of Alberta Pork, says the situation has never been as bleak: "We’ve never had a period this bad for this long in the history of the pork industry in Canada."

The Canadian Press