The sole meat-processing plant in the State licensed to render high-risk BSE material will be unable to deal with demand, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned. This is due to the vast increase in cattle to be culled.
Monery By-Products 2000 Ltd in Cavan is the only plant licensed to render specific risk material (SRM) - the parts of the animal believed to harbour the BSE prion. These must be removed and disposed of separately under EU regulations.
Mr Iain Maclean, EPA director of licensing and control, said the "bottleneck will be in processing SRM", and Monery on its own would be unable to cope with the vast increase in material to be rendered.
A further three plants have applied to the EPA for licences to render SRM. A draft licence, which is open to public participation, has been issued to Munster Proteins Ltd in Co Water ford. The EPA expects to issue a draft licence soon to Premier Proteins in Co Galway.
It is also processing an application from Ronans of Rosegreen, Co Tipperary. The period before a final licence is issued is between one and five months.
None of the State's meat processing plants is capable of rendering BSE-positive material (i.e., material from animals confirmed to have BSE). No applications have been received by the EPA to render such material.
The meat processing industry had a poor environmental image but this was changing, he said. "I'm not saying nothing further can be done. But there has been significant progress made in the industry in the last four years."
For the six months of the cull, the EPA has told all plants with integrated pollution control licences to take steps to ensure emissions cause no pollution.
Before they initiate a cull plants must make sure wastewater treatment works are able to function with increased loads. The EPA will also be looking for "increased vigilance" in slaughtering plants.
The increase in material to be rendered can be managed in the short term by placing the rendered material in cold storage, which presents no significant environmental risk if properly stored, added Mr Maclean.
However, this will not be a sufficient long-term solution. He said incineration seemed the "most likely" future option.