Talks to resume pig slaughter amid beef fears in Irish dioxin scare

Dec 9, 2008, 8:16 GMT

Dublin - Negotiations to facilitate the resumption of pig slaughter following the dioxin contamination of pork are to continue Tuesday at the Department of Agriculture in Ireland, where 2,000 pig processing plant workers have been laid off as a result of the scare.

Progress is said to have been made in the negotiations that went on until late Monday, Ireland's national broadcaster RTE reported.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who led the opening sessions of the talks between pig processors, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and senior civil servants, has said the government may apply to the European Union to fund, or partly fund, a compensation scheme for the pork industry.

Almost 2,000 employees at pig processing plants have been laid off as a result of the recall of Irish pork at the weekend. The plant owners are refusing to open the factories until Dublin gives them a multimillion-euros-compensation package for any losses incurred.

The results of tests on beef from 38 cattle farms where contaminated feed was used may also be available Tuesday, according to Irish media reports.

President of the IFA, Padraig Walshe, told RTE radio that it was a 'major worry that the feed could have also have been used for beef cattle.'

Pork products tainted with dioxins were exported to 21 different countries from Ireland, the Food and Safety Agency of Ireland said.

Food valued at around 125 million euros (159 million dollars) is being destroyed in Ireland and abroad with an estimated 100,000 pigs being culled.

Britain, the recipient of 40 per cent of Irish pork exports, has recalled all Irish pork products from supermarket shelves as has Northern Ireland, while Japan, Singapore and South Korea have suspended the import and sale of all Irish pork.

The European Commission has required the 12 European Union member states that had imported Irish pork and pork products to detain the products to check them for dioxins.

No ban was imposed by the Commission on Irish pork, but European Union veterinary officers and experts on food health were monitoring the situation with meetings to be held later this week.

A total of 6,000 jobs are expected to be affected by the scandal, according to the Services, Industrial Professional and Technical Union.

The recall followed the discovery in pork of potentially dangerous dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the source of which has been traced to feed supplied from a County Carlow food recycling plant, 100 kilometres south of Dublin.

Investigations by Irish police, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency have found that unlicensed oil was used at the plant to heat feed which was supplied to nine pig farms and 38 beef farms.

It is thought that the fumes caused the contamination, the Irish Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Irish pork industry is worth 400 million euros annually with exports amounting to 250 million euros.

When processing resumes, Irish pork will carry a new label saying it was produced after December 7, and is unaffected by the current product recall.