Representatives of waste management agencies today made a submission to an Oireachtas committee investigating the recent contamination of Irish pork products.
The Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP) and Indaver Ireland were questioned by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture at Leinster House.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith will appear before the committee tomorrow morning. Later tomorrow, the agriculture committee will have the opportunity to question representatives of the Local Authorities Veterinary Services, Craft Butchers and representatives of Carlow County Council.
Irish pork products were withdrawn from sale last month in a major food crisis, after it emerged that some food products were contaminated with high levels of substances known as dioxin-like PCBs. An estimated 100,000 pigs had to be destroyed because of the contamination, which led to the recall of all Irish pork products in Ireland's largest food scare since the BSE crisis over seven years ago.
The public were told to dump or return all pork products purchased since September 1st because of the risk of dioxin contamination. About €125 million worth of food products in home and in export markets - up to 25 countries - had to be destroyed. Pork products with dioxin levels of between 80 and 200 times the safe limit was discovered during the investigation.
The Departments of Agriculture and Health, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Garda Siochána all became involved in the inquiry. The contamination was the result of pigs being fed contaminated feed. An investigation into a plant in Co Carlow that processed waste human food products for pig feed was carried out as part of the inquiry into the food scare. It emerged that “inappropriate” oil was being used by the plant to heat a burner used to dry the human food waste during the production process.
The committee’s deliberations are part of the fourth week in a series of hearings it is holding in order to investigate the issues. It will consider how the difficulties now facing the meat industry might be overcome and will publish a report on its findings.