Have you ever heard of African swine fever (ASF) caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV)? A fourth of the world’s pigs have died from it just this year—half of all of China’s pigs—but like previous food animal pandemics, Big Meat has managed to keep it out of the news.
The only mainstream stories most people have read that touch on ASF deal with China’s pork reserves (like the US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve says a New York Times piece that manages to dodge the disease itself) and trade implications of the pig disease. Questions about the pandemic disease potentials of intensive animal agriculture are skirted.
