An investigation to ensure that offal from Irish meat plants being exported to Northern Ireland does not contain any risk material is being carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Food.
Offal from the Republic has been going to the North since the ending of a State subsidy to the rendering industry here in June.
The rendering industry, which takes waste from processed animals and reduces it to meat-and- bone meal, had been receiving a subsidy of €250 a tonne up to the end of May.
Previously, the Irish taxpayer had subsidised the industry: by €66 million in 2001 and €43 million in 2002. However, that subsidy was withdrawn in June because of Government cutbacks.
The rendering industry had sought taxpayers' money because meat-and-bone meal was no longer saleable as a result of the BSE crisis. However, rendering costs in the Republic up until May were running at €160 a tonne. The cost in Northern Ireland was £55 a tonne.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Food said "high-risk offal cannot be exported across borders and we are currently carrying out checks to ensure that high-risk material is not exported," he said.