THE 100,000 pigs that are being destroyed because of the dioxin meat crisis are being killed in specially designated units and will not go through regular killing lines, it has been learned.
The Department of Agriculture said the plan to slaughter and render the pigs from the 11 farms affected by the contaminated food began yesterday.
"The pigs will not be killed on the farms but taken to specially selected premises away from the food chain and dealt with there," a spokeswoman said.
She said the disposal of the pigs presented a major logistical problem and it was not possible to say how many of the animals had already been killed or would be killed this week.
The Compassion in World Farming Organisation had called for proper veterinary monitoring of the animals involved because of welfare issues that arose when the animals became overweight.
The department is now in negotiation with the renderers who will deal with the pig carcasses as to whether they will be rendered down into meat and bonemeal or tallow. They are also opening discussions with the owners of the 4,000 cattle that will also have to be destroyed because of the contamination problem.
These animals are being held on the 21 cattle farms that also fed contaminated feed and where levels of dioxin higher than allowable were found. It is expected the Government will approach the EU seeking support for this cull of animals in the same way it did in the pig crisis.
Last Friday the EU said it would co-finance a disposal scheme for the pigmeat, paying 50 per cent of the cost of buying the animals locked up on farms, being held at slaughterhouses or still owned by slaughterhouses.
This move will cost the European taxpayer €20 million and was welcomed by the Minister for Agriculture, the farm organisations and the processors.
The crisis broke on December 6th when the Government announced a total recall of most pigmeat products that had been on the market from September 1st.
It was discovered that feed for the animals had been contaminated by non-feed-grade processing oil at the Millstream Recycling plant in Co Carlow.