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Nov 06, 2009 (The Land - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Misery loves company? No, that's much too negative a sentiment for what was going on over the lunch hour Oct. 9 at the Econofoods parking lot in St. Peter.

Everyone knows about the H1N1 novel influenza virus. In addition to its well-recorded human impact, H1N1 has had a tremendous guilt-by-association impact on the swine industry. Scientifically unfounded fears that eating pork could transmit the disease hammered an already-down industry, with demand for pork dropping both domestically and abroad.

Meanwhile, unknown to most folks outside of south central Minnesota, an economic downturn on a more intimate scale was hitting the businesses of St. Peter. Ongoing since June -- courtesy of the federal economic stimulus package -- a substantial U.S. Highway 169 project has torn up the town. With its major north-south traffic artery out of commission, an extended drop in commercial traffic has hit local retail businesses hard.

So a few positive-minded folks from the area decided to turn some lemons into lemonade, so to speak.

Sponsored by the Swine Vet Center, Nicollet County Bank, Econofoods and the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, a free pork feed was held for the businesspeople of St. Peter as well as the hardworking road construction crews. Grill teams from Ivesco, Wakefield Pork and SVC Research prepared pork loin sandwiches and pork chops-on-a-stick for the hungry crowd, and no one left hungry or unsatisfied.

The construction workers seemed particularly pleased with the event, eager to take a break from their $15 million project and enjoy some tasty grilled pork.

SVC veterinarian Tim Loula said that while brainstorming ways to promote pork and educate the public that eating it is completely safe, someone in his group said, "Let's grill!" (One suspects that a unanimous "aye" vote soon followed.)

Loula called the event "a chance to use up some of the excess pork that is still around" due to the drop in demand "because of the H1N1 virus, even though the USDA ... has proven on all their tests that the meat is safe and the flu virus is not found in meat."

Although the Minnesota Department of Transportation says the Highway 169 construction is due to wrap up by the end of November, no one can say how long the H1N1 pandemic will last or when The Other White Meat will be able to pull its way back out of the red.

Let's grill.

For more information on the construction project, log on to www.discover169.com; on the Swine Vet Center, log on to www.swinevetcenter.com; on the H1N1 virus, log on to www.flu.gov.

Originally published in the October 30, 2009, print edition.

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Tom Royer

Copyright (C) 2009, The Land, Mankato, Minn.

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