Japan praises Irish handling of pork scare

HARRY McGEE

THE JAPANESE government praised the Irish Government for its handling of the discovery of dioxin in Irish pork products, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said yesterday.

Mr Smith met his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Ishiba, yesterday and said the meeting had been very successful. He said opportunities existed to greatly expand Irish food produce to one of the world’s biggest markets.

“[Mr Ishiba] commended us very strongly on the action we took when we had the pork recall incident over dioxin. It was his view and that of his department that we acted very decisively and made the right decisions. We were transparent and open with the public,” Mr Smith told The Irish Times.

Irish pork produce makes up one-quarter of Irish exports to Japan. The overall value of exports bound for Japan is €90 million, of which pork products, mostly frozen, are worth more than €20 million.

He said that following the meeting, there were many opportunities for increasing agricultural trade between the two countries.

“Japan is only 40 per cent self-sufficient in food. It is a country that has a population of 128 million people. We believe there is a great potential to expand the market we have in pork products and in sea food and in dairy products,” Mr Smith said.

The possibility of the Japanese market being reopened for Irish beef was also raised during meetings the Minister held with the ministries of health and agriculture yesterday. Beef from all EU countries is excluded from the Japanese market because of the BSE outbreak of 2000.

Mr Smith said the incidence of BSE was very low in Ireland. In 2008, there were 24 cases in total, down from a high of 355.

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Slaughter of 100,000 pigs gets under way today

SEAN MacCONNELL, Agriculture Correspondent

THE SLAUGHTER and destruction of the 100,000 pigs at the centre of the pork meat contamination scare will begin today.

Plans are also being finalised for the destruction of the 4,000 cattle which were also fed the same feed, the Department of Agriculture confirmed last night.

The announcement came as investigators attempting to trace the source of the oil at the centre of the pig and cattle dioxin scare confirmed that it came from electricity transformers.

The chemical profile of the contaminant was identified as being waste-transformer oil, according to sources close to the investigation.

This may help the environment protection agencies North and South who are investigating the incident with the Garda and the PSNI to find the culprits responsible for the crisis.

The focus of the investigation is now on how the contaminated oil entered the system and ended up being used to convert out-of-date food for cattle and pig ration at the Millstream recycling plant in Co Carlow.

That company has said it had only ever purchased oil from a legitimate supplier in the Republic. That supplier, which has not been named, has not made any public statement.

A Co Tyrone company which supplied oil to the plant for a limited period has said it is not responsible for the contamination and it has passed an audit by the Northern Ireland Environment Protection Agency.

The recall of beef from the 21 beef farms which were known to have used the contaminated feed, is continuing as plans are being put in place to slaughter and destroy the animals on those farms.

The number of animals is not know but will be considerably fewer than the 9,530 cattle originally identified in the Republic on 52 farms.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland had reported on Thursday last four samples from restricted beef herds were above the allowable limit but posed no threat to public health

All these animals, and the 100,000 pigs which were exposed to the feed, will be removed from the food chain and their bodies rendered and incinerated abroad.

The European Commission announced on Friday it would co-finance a disposal scheme for these pigs and pork in a move which will see it make more than €20 million available.

It said it would pay 50 per cent of the cost of buying the animals blocked on farms and for pigmeat stocks held in slaughter houses or still owned by slaughter houses.

The EU also put into place a scheme for buying up 15,000 tonnes of pigmeat in Northern Ireland, a so-called aids to private storage scheme, similar to that already established in the Republic which will take 30,000 tonnes of pigmeat off the market.

The EU contribution to resolving the pigmeat crisis here now stands at almost €36 million and the Government had already put a €180 million package in place to get the factories reopened and the industry moving again.

The dioxin test results from cattle herds in Northern Ireland exposed to the contaminated feed are expected later this week.

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I am shocked this pig crisis can occur in the era of traceability

By Oliver McDonnell

Tuesday December 16 2008

I don't intend to comment on the current state of affairs in our country other than to say that my overriding reaction is one of utter shock and indeed anger.

Shock that such a thing could happen in these days of traceability, and anger that our whole agricultural industry -- including our reputation -- could be placed at indescribable risk by such action.

We have all been thrown into turmoil this past couple of weeks so much so that I must admit that I am finding this diary very hard to write. I just can't get my thoughts together.

However, I have to say that I admire all of our localDepartment of Agriculture staff who have worked practically around the clock and who have adopted a most understanding and friendly approach to farmers in general. They did their investigations efficiently and with the minimum of fuss, while at the same time recognising that none of this is our fault.

Thank God none of this whole sorry business affects us personally. Other than that, I had a load of cattle ready for sale, but these may now wait until after Christmas and until some order is restored to the agricultural industry in general.

Holding on to these cattle for the extra couple of weeks will pose some housing problems for us, insofar as we have planned for cattle coming in and cattle going out at specified times, but it cannot be helped in the circumstances and we will deal with it.

We have empty housing which can be used. It is a bit inconvenient because it is at the far end of the farm, and feed will have to be hauled there which is time consuming.

As we prepare now for the Christmas period and try to organise our work to give ourselves some free time, the roller is working flat out to build a small stock of rolled barley. The lads have given me their Christmas orders too as they also want to ensure that they have sufficient stocks on hand.

Having said this, the roller cost us a small fortune a few weeks ago when it broke down. However, this is the first time it has required major repair. The cost of the spare parts was considerable, but the cost of labour was astronomical and, to my mind, unsustainable.

When I first bought the corn roller some five years ago, the machine cost €13,000 and it will now cost €7,000 to repair. While we have no way of knowing exactly how the labour charges were billed, we worked it out roughly that if two men worked on the machine for two days then we were charged in excess of €115/hour.

Now, while I know that labour charges such as these have become the norm, it is a serious concern. Farmers cannot afford such labour charges and will return to fixing as much as possible themselves in an effort to curtail machinery costs on the farm.

Anyway, despite the huge cost of repairing the machine, I was glad to get it back into action within a couple of days.

Murphy's law applied here. The machine broke down at the worst possible time when the yard was full of cattle, but fortunately we had a couple of days' supply of rolled barley on hand. We feed 80pc of the ration in the form of rolled barley and wheat and so cannot be without this vital machine.

I took a walk out through the tillage fields a few days ago and was heartened to note that the late-sown wheat is doing very well indeed.

We changed our seed this year and are delighted to see the aggression of performance and development despite the difficult sowing conditions.

No spraying has been done as yet but, having said this, there doesn't appear to be a weed problem. However, we are keeping ahead with slug pellets because these little pests are capable of clearing all before them overnight unless halted.

Less than half of our tillage crop is actually sown at this stage. The weather has been terrible this year but the last few weeks of frost have certainly been welcome and are more akin to the winters of our memories.

Housed cattle are healthier in cold weather conditions and we all feel more uplifted when we can stay in the same set of clothes for a whole day without getting soaked. Let us hope that this cold weather is a forerunner to better conditions for the new year so that we can catch up on crop sowing.

Now, more than ever, it has been brought home to us the importance of using natural, home-grown products over which we, as farmers, have some measure of control.

Meantime, there is great excitement on the home front as our 11 grandchildren count down the days to Santa's arrival and, with great interest, inspect the Christmas tree and all the decorations on every visit. It really is a time for children and we are so privileged to be able to enjoy it a second time around.

- Oliver McDonnell

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Ireland strikes deal to restart pig slaughtering

DUBLIN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Ireland's government and pig processors said on Thursday they had agreed a deal that would allow the resumption of pig slaughtering, halted after Saturday's recall of pork products due to dioxin contamination.

"I want to share with the (prime minister) in welcoming the agreement that will see full-scale slaughtering resumed very quickly and I hope that the thousands of jobs compromised in recent days can now be secured," said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smithd.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely)

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Waste oil from Northern Ireland may be source of dioxin scare

Gardai and the PSNI are reportedly investigating if waste oil that should have been stored or incinerated in Northern Ireland is the source of the pig-meat contamination scare in the Republic.

Reports this morning say the Co Carlow plant that supplied contaminated feed to several pig farmers was using waste oil from electricity transformers in the drying process.

The oil has reportedly been traced to a business in Co Tyrone, where this morning's reports say it should have been stored or incinerated under licence.

The Gardai are investigating how the oil ended up being used at the Carlow plant, where it transferred poisonous dioxins into the feed supplied to pig farmers.

The plant owners have reportedly told detectives that they bought the oil legally and believed it was suitable for processing animal feed.

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Protest demands reopening of pig plants

STEVEN CARROLL

More than 100 members and representatives of the Irish pig industry gathered in Dublin this afternoon to demand that processing plants be reopened.

Members of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) congregated at the Department of Agriculture on Kildare Street to say it was unacceptable that the closure of 10 farms, following the discovery contaminants, should shut down business for 450 others.

Discussions aimed at reopening processing plants, involving Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the Minister of Agriculture Brendan Smith and pigmeat processors, remained deadlocked last night and the talks continued in the Department of Agriculture as the as the demonstrators gathered today.

Tim Cullinan of the IFA national pigs committee said farmers are losing €1 million for every day and that their livelihoods are being put in "jeopardy".

"Pig producers whose herds are clear of any contamination have been unable to move their perfectly healthy animals to processors," he said.

"We are suffering severe losses every day while supermarket shelf space is being lost to imports."

The protesters said a backlog of 60,000 pigs that are ready to be slaughtered has developed since the processing plants closed their doors and that this figure was increasing rapidly every day.

Mairead O'Brien, a pig farmer from Mitchelstown in Co Cork, said it was imperative the processors and the Government come up with a solution that got the pigmeat market moving again.

"It's like the tap is on and the sink is filling and the water has nowhere to go. I've had pigs ready for sale since last Monday and I have banamhs being born every minute," she said.

Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Michael Creed and party colleagues Shane McEntee, Seymour Crawford and Charlie Flanagan joined the protesters.

"We're here to support these people who's livelihood is under threat but we're also here to support people who's jobs have been lost and are under threat in the processing sector," Mr Creed said.

He added that it was very important that the ongoing discussions over a plan to assist farmers and processors be concluded as soon as possible.

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€125m of pork to be destroyed in biggest food scare since BSE

AN ESTIMATED 100,000 pigs will have to be destroyed because of the pigmeat crisis which has led to the recall of all Irish pork products in Ireland's largest food scare since BSE.

The public have been told to dump or return all pork products which they purchased since September 1st last because of the risk of dioxin contamination.

It is estimated that €125 million worth of food products in home and in export markets - up to 25 countries - will have to be destroyed.

The recall followed the discovery of potentially dangerous dioxins, known as PCBs, in pigmeat. They were initially traced in an un-named meat plant in the Republic. The dioxins were contained in feed supplied from a Co Carlow food recycling plant, it emerged yesterday.

As the Government moved to ease the fears of consumers, investigations were continuing at 10 pig farms and 38 beef farms in the Republic. The contamination is likely to have a severe impact on the €7 billion Irish food industry.

It emerged yesterday contaminated feed from the Co Carlow facility, Millstream Recycling in Clohamon Mills, had also been supplied to nine farms in Northern Ireland which now have been restricted.

The investigation has found contaminated pork with dioxin levels of 80 to 200 times above the safety limits. It is being led by the Departments of Agriculture and Health, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The Garda Síochána are also involved.

The dramatic food recall was announced on Saturday night as the investigation into the source of the contamination, understood to be oil, was stepped up after tests at a UK laboratory in York confirmed the presence of dioxins in the pigmeat.

The crisis began, however, last month when a routine sample was taken from the meat plant. Results of further tests from cattle farms will be known later today.

Other examination of Irish products in the Netherlands, France and Belgium prompted the action by the Government in an attempt to protect consumer confidence at home and abroad.

The European Commission has called a meeting of food safety experts from Ireland and other affected EU states tomorrow to co-ordinate a Europe-wide response to the contamination of Irish pork products.

Millstream Recycling has confirmed it has been working with Department of Agriculture officials to identify the source of PCBs found in pig meal used in a number of farms in Ireland. Accepting the need for a recall, Millstream Recycling said it would be carrying out "a full investigation to establish how the company's strict health and safety procedures and the high quality standards could possibly have been breached".

Last night the FSAI repeated its advice to consumers not to eat any pork products. But it said people should not be alarmed or concerned in relation to the potential risks from short-term exposure to dioxins found in pork products.

Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said a number of health studies conducted in Belgium since the dioxin scare in 1999 had not found any negative effects on the population. "From the experience in Belgium we don't anticipate any health effects and on that basis we are reassuring people."

Prof James Heffron, a specialist on the biochemistry of detoxification at UCC's biochemical toxicology lab, told The Irish Times, however, the Government in his view needed to do more to reassure the public. Prof Heffron said information on the amount of dioxin found in affected meat should be released in addition to further details on the duration of exposure. "When we have this information we can relate it to World Health Organisation guidelines on acceptable levels of dioxin," he added.

The recall led to almost 2,000 calls to the FSAI helpline yesterday. Queues formed at supermarkets as shoppers returned products for which the Government said they should receive a refund. The National Consumer Agency (NCA) said consumers were entitled to be refunded. NCA chief executive Anne Fitzgerald said: "Under legislation consumers are entitled to repair, replacement or refund of a faulty product. In the case of pork meat or other food products containing pork, consumers are entitled to a refund as a repair or replacement does not apply in this instant.

The Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association called on the Government to provide an emergency compensation package so that retailers and suppliers would not be left out of pocket.

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