Risk from quarantined hog farm is ‘minimal’

State officials who quarantined a Stanislaus County hog farm after an industrial chemical was found in its animals said Friday that the health risk to people who ate pork from the facility appeared “minimal,” as inspectors continued testing.

Tests of seven urine samples and two feed samples at American Hog Farm in Ceres all came back positive for melamine, the chemical that has tainted more than 100 brands of dog and cat food, said State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer.

Three live pigs were taken for testing, and inspectors are rounding up an undetermined number of live hogs sold from the 1,500-animal farm since April 3. So far, the state has 26 recovered pigs at a Northern California facility, officials said.

American Hog Farm also operates as a “custom slaughterhouse,” one of 40 such statelicensed facilities in California that butcher animals for individual orders, Breitmeyer said. The meat was not intended for resale and was stamped “not for sale,” so the pork would not be available at commercial outlets, he said.

“The risk to people right now is minimal,” Breitmeyer said.

Still, the state was asking customers who bought nearly 100 pigs from the slaughterhouse since April 3 not to eat the products as a precaution.

California’s Department of Food and Agriculture imposed the quarantine Thursday after records from Diamond Pet Food’s Lathrop facility showed it had sold salvage pet food to the farm for pig feed this month. Those shipments from Diamond, which makes products under the Natural Balance brand, were found to have melamine, traced to rice protein concentrate imported from China.