Practices in France's animal waste plants denounced as `monstrous'

Piles of carcasses amid a sludge of rotting meat, blood and fluids from dead animals; the video shown in an annex of the National Assembly yesterday was disgusting. And it pointed the finger at French government authorities who despite nearly a decade of food safety crises have allowed appalling hygiene to continue in the animal waste industry.

All meat and bone meal is now banned for animal feed in France, but waste products still have to be rendered into meal for incineration. Because there are not enough incinerators, huge stocks are piling up. Disposal of animal waste from the food industry is out of control.

The press conference was prompted by a whistle-blower, Mr Francis Doussal, who was sacked "for excessive and ill-willed criticism" last month by Saria, the main producer and stocker of meat and bone meal in France. Mr Doussal said practices in the industry "are a monstrosity that will claim many victims".

He denounced conditions at the plant where he worked as a manager in Brittany. Employees were not provided with face masks, adequate protective clothing or the chance to disinfect themselves before leaving the plant. At another Saria plant near Paris, local residents have been overwhelmed by odours.

The rendering plant at Guer, Brittany, grinds high-risk materials - animal brains, eyes, spinal cords, bone marrow, intestines. The plant is known locally as "the little shop of horrors". Holding tanks for body fluids from dead animals have flooded into a nearby river at least four times in the past years.

Ms Annie Leroy, who heads a lobby group of people who live near rendering plants, said that of the 3.5 million tonnes of animal waste processed in France every year, 800,000 tonnes were high-risk materials - banned for animal feed since 1996. As a result, high-risk materials - which can carry brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis as well as the BSE prion - are not superheated like ordinary meal.

"For 2 1/2 years I have been saying that transport of high-risk materials is carried out in unsafe conditions," Ms Leroy said. "The lorries are not cleaned. They are used to carry other products. The animal parts leak fluid onto the roads. The officials we go to take note, over and over."

After staging a hunger-strike to draw attention to the scandal, Mr Doussal persuaded Yann Galut, Noel Mamere and Patrick Braouezec of the National Assembly to campaign against the dangerous practices. "The Ministry of the Environment has abdicated all responsibility, while the Ministry of Agriculture is in cahoots with the industry," Mr Doussal alleged.

The three deputies yesterday received a joint letter from the ministers in question, promising to study new rules for the animal waste industry.