The opening of the first major processing and distribution centre for organic meat products has being hailed as a major breakthrough for the sector.
The €1.5 million 15,000 sq ft plant near Cahir, in Co Tipperary, will be operated by Good Herdsmen (Processing) Ltd and will employ 20 people by the end of the year.
The custom built plant will produce retail packs of organic meat for the supermarket trade in Ireland as well as for the sector in Britain.
The company will also produce consumer packs of both cooked and raw meat and will develop ready-to-cook meals with organic vegetables.
The plant will be supplied by 200 registered organic producers from across the State.
The directors of Good Herdsmen (Processing) are among the first of the Republic's organic farmers, Mr Josef Finke and Mr John Purcell of the Purcell family, whose involvement in the livestock trade spans three generations.
The company was established in 1989 to coordinate the supply and marketing of organically produced meat and since then has become the biggest organic processing company in Ireland.
It supplies the Tesco and Super Valu/Centra stores in the State as well as a number of other independent food outlets specialising in organic food.
It has also been exporting organic beef and lamb to Belgium and Italy and has outlets in London.
The new facility, opened last week by Mr Noel Treacy, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, has an operating capacity to process 50 cattle and 100 lamb carcasses per day .
Mr Treacy said the opening of the plant was further evidence for the view that this was the time to recognise organic production as part of mainstream agriculture.