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Contaminated feed from the Republic has been fed to herds of cattle on eight farms in Northern Ireland.

The North’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) said today it had established that eight farms had used feed from the Millstream Recycling plant in Carlow which is at the centre of a major dioxin scare.

But the agency said the contamination would not get into the food chain.

FSA deputy director in Northern Ireland Maria Jennings said: “All of those herds have been placed under restriction, which means that none of the meat from those herds will go into the food chain.”

She said: “The beef that is on sale in Northern Ireland is entirely safe, there is no problem with that meat on sale on the supermarket shelves.”

The agency said no pigs in the North had been given the contaminated feed and that processors in Northern Ireland could start slaughtering pigs again.

Ms Jennings said: “We are quite happy that the processors can start to process Northern Irish pigs, it is safe and can be put on the shelves.”

She said the pork should be in the shops within a couple of days.