Pork prices remained stable and consumption unchanged in Beijing on Monday in the aftermath of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico as the government assured the pork is safe to eat.

At Xinfadi, Beijing's largest wholesale food market, hog and pork prices stood at between 11.5 yuan (US$1.7) and 13.5 yuan per kg.

"The prices are little changed from a few days ago," a pork seller surnamed Wang was quoted by Tuesday's China Daily as saying. "We didn't see a decline in the number of buyers."

Wang Dequan, chief of Xinfadi's hog and pork market, said the facility supplies 1,700 animals a day. He added, "They were sold out today as well."

But he said he was concerned about the potential impact of the illness, should it spread to the Chinese mainland. A case has been tested for similar flu in Hong Kong.

"The flu hasn't affected our business because there has been no report of the disease on the mainland. But if there were to be any, the influence would be huge," he said.

He Ping, 27, a civil servant from Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, said she will continue eating pork.

"I'm not very worried because I've learnt the flu is preventable by maintaining personal hygiene," she said.

Huixin Kingdergarten in Beijing has decided to serve less pork to children, although no parents have requested it to do so.

A staffer surnamed Zhao said beef and mutton is served instead.

But while the outbreak has not impacted demand, hog prices in the nation's capital are down about 40 percent on the same period of last year, when they peaked at about 17 yuan per kg.

The decline has been largely the result of oversupply due in part to the global financial crisis, which caused the closure of thousands of export-oriented factories along China's coasts and the resulting loss of a major market for pork products.

"The media are all so concerned about pigs only because this thing's called 'swine flu'. But as a matter of fact, our pigs are doing fine," a press officer, who declined to be named told China Daily.

Scientists have said the A/H1N1 strain is transmitted person-to-person and pigs are unaffected.

On Saturday, the WHO called the outbreak of swine flu "a public health emergency of international concern".

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)