Last year, the world’s largest hog producer was forced to look abroad to feed its increasing appetite for pork. China imported nearly 2 million tons of pig meat in 2008, up from only 700,000 tons in 2007. A leading contributor to this was a blue-eared pig disease, a virus that spread to 25 of China’s 33 provinces and regions in 2007-2008. Meat production is projected to nearly double by 2050 and pork currently constitutes 39 percent of global meat production.