In the noisy and bustling abattoir, only the liberal spraying of green dye on carcasses gave any hint that this was anything other than a normal production day at the Ferrybank factory.
The green dye ensures that meat is clearly marked for disposal under the EU purchase for destruction (PDF) scheme, which will see several hundred thousand cattle over 30 months old slaughtered in the Republic.
Regardless of the dye, there could be no confusion about the destination of carcasses. Although not required to do so, AIBP has decided that normal processing will not take place at plants participating in the PDF scheme.
So while abattoir staff worked flat out at their usual jobs - stunning the animals and bleeding them before removing the skins, heads and feet, and eviscerating various material - the rest of the plant, including its 10 chill rooms, was eerily quiet.
"Normally we'd have 30 people on that line, 20 people on this line and maybe 20 or 30 packers at the far end," remarks Mr Finbarr McDonnell, the AIBP group production manager, surveying the empty boning hall. "It would be boned, packed and boxed, stored downstairs, and then we'd ship it off to our customers."
Watching animals being slaughtered for destruction is "soul destroying", says the plant manager, Mr John Kelleher. "Obviously we would prefer to be killing cattle as normal, processing them and marketing them. But there's no point in crying about it. We just have to go and do it."
From 8.30 a.m. until 4.30 p.m., 400 cattle a day are being slaughtered at the factory. For the inexperienced observer, the speed and efficiency with which men and women in the abattoir work is startling.
There is not a moment lost from the time the cattle are placed in a metal container, stunned and, within seconds, bled to death. From there, they are hung up and conveyed around the floor for workers to perform various highly skilled tasks, including the removal of specified risk material.
This is put in boxes marked "SRM" and sprayed with blue dye at frequent intervals for easy identification. At present only one plant in the country, Monery By-Products in Cavan, is licensed to render this material, which constitutes the parts of animals where BSE could occur.
Department of Agriculture veterinary inspectors and officials continue to monitor every step of the process. Ante-mortem tests, for example, are still carried out to ensure cattle are fit for slaughter. Even though they are not destined for the food chain, only healthy animals qualify under the PDF scheme.
Only after the carcasses are graded by an official, to determine how much a farmer should be paid for them, is the green dye applied and the normal process at the factory brought to an end. Now, instead of being removed to the boning hall, the carcasses are cut into quarters for easy rendering.
From AIBP Waterford they are taken to one of the five plants in the State rendering cattle culled under the scheme.