Egypt has decided to extend its ban on European beef until June, dealing a further blow to the beleaguered Irish beef sector.
The industry will also have to face the consequences of a new EU regulation requiring the vertebrae of cattle to be removed from all animals over one year old in slaughtering plants. This will add even more to BSE waste material requiring specialist disposal.
The continuation of the ban in Egypt, which should have been reviewed at the end of this month, has cast gloom over the already battered industry because Egypt is our largest commercial market. Last year the country imported 150,000 tonnes of beef, the equivalent of 450,000 cattle.
It also dashed any hope of a swift recovery of non-EU markets. A delegation of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture will go to Cairo this weekend.
The Department described the move by the EU to remove the vertebrae from animals as "both unnecessary and unwelcome" and said it would be seeking a derogation from the decision of the EU Standing Veterinary Committee.
"We are objecting on the basis that the EU's Scientific Steering Committee has already stated that this is unnecessary where there has been an effective feeding ban on meat and bone meal," said a spokesman. The committee has also acknowledged Ireland's low incidence of BSE.
There was some welcome news, however, on the rendering front when the EPA announced that College Proteins Ltd, Nobber, Co Meath will be allowed to process low-grade specified risk material from young animals and animals tested BSE-free.