EPA unsure when risk material plant will come into operation

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today it doesn't know when a second rendering plant for BSE risk material will…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today it doesn't know when a second rendering plant for BSE risk material will come into operation despite the backlog at Monery By-Products in Co. Cavan.

Monery By-Products - the country's only BSE risk material rendering plant - said yesterday it had become backlogged since the Purchase for Destruction (PFD) scheme came into effect last week. The company has said it would not take any more specified risk material(SRM) for processing during the rest of the week while it tried to clear the backlog.

Currently the plant is being forced to freeze the SRM, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and intestines of cattle carcasses, and place it in cold storage.

Ms Barbara Wallace, spokeswoman for the EPA told ireland.comtoday it was "not easy" to find a plant that could carry out the process of rendering SRM and cited "objections from the public" as one reason why applications from processing plants may be turned down by the agency.

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The EPA has received licence applications from plants in Waterford, Tipperary and Galway.

The Department of Agriculture told ireland.comthe cost of freezing the material was £40 per ton of SRM per week. This is in addition to the £130 per ton per week it is costing to process the cattle culled as part of the PFD scheme.