Complaints that new mechanical graders in meat export factories are penalising some farmers have been rejected by Meat Industry Ireland.
The graders are being installed at the State's meat plants as a result of pressure from farm organisations to have the mechanical system replace humans.
However, following a week of operations at the plants, the chairman of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association said that while the machines were grading animals correctly, they were getting the animals' fat scores wrong.
Mr Robin Smith, chairman of the association's beef committee, said farmers selling young bulls which were required to have a minimum fat cover and farmers receiving a bonus for specified fat levels were being penalised.
He cautioned farmers against accepting lower prices based on the promise of improved grading.
But Mr Cormac Healy of Meat Industry Ireland, which represents the meat factories, reminded farmers the technology had been approved by the Department of Agriculture and the EU Commission.
"The introduction of this new technology brings objectivity and consistency to carcase grading," he said.