A meat plant in north Wexford was closed yesterday for the second time in three weeks because of a foot-and-mouth scare.
Department of Agriculture officials ordered the closure of the Irish Country Meats plant at Camolin after three sheep delivered from a farm in Blackwater, Co Wexford, were found to have a rash. Samples were sent yesterday to the Pirbright laboratory in England.
However, with the laboratory no longer issuing preliminary test results, management at the plant, which is part of the Slaney Meats group, faces a five-day wait for the outcome.
A Department of Agriculture vet, Mr John Gregan, confirmed that the case was being treated as suspected foot-and-mouth and said the plant would remain closed until the test results were known.
The IFA regional organiser, Mr Adrian King, said the news was disappointing even though they were not overly concerned, believing that it would probably turn out to be another false alarm.
The continued alerts, however, were causing major disruption to the sale of sheep, he said.
It was a particularly hard blow for the Camolin plant, he said, as it was the largest such plant still operating in the county.
Its sister plant, Slaney Meats in Clohamon, Bunclody, stopped accepting sheep for slaughter after it had a similar alert a day after the first alert at the Irish Country Meats plant.
Mr King said the detection of suspect animals demonstrated that the precautions adopted in meat plants were working and showed that vigilance was being maintained.
Employees were forced to remain on site for a number of hours yesterday afternoon and then had to undergo rigorous disinfection procedures which they had experienced on the first occasion. This time, however, they face a longer layoff while the test results are awaited.