Dublin - As Irish police investigated the contamination of Irish pork with dioxins Monday the economic fallout of the scandal began with 850 workers at a meat processing plant being laid off and a further 650 receiving notice of possible layoffs. Pork products tainted with dioxins were exported to 21 different countries from Ireland, the Food and Safety Agency of Ireland (FSAI) said Monday, following the government's recall of pork products dating back to September 1.
Food valued at around 125 million euros (159 million dollars) is to be destroyed in Ireland and abroad with an estimated 100,000 pigs being culled.
Britain, the recipient of 40 per cent of Irish pork exports, has recalled all Irish pork products from supermarket shelves as has Northern Ireland, while Japan, Singapore and South Korea have suspended the import and sale of all Irish pork.
The European Commission has required the 12 European Union member states that had imported Irish pork and pork products to detain the products to check them for dioxins.
Commission health spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki said that measures taken by Irish authorities were considered sufficient at this stage.
"But there will be meetings this week of European veterinary officers and experts on food health to monitor the situation," she told a press conference Monday.
One of Ireland's largest meat processors, Rosderra Meats, in Offaly, in the midlands, laid off 850 workers Monday. A Rosderra spokesman told Ireland's national broadcaster RTE that the company had no choice considering the uncertainty in the industry.
A total of 6,000 jobs are expected to be affected by the scandal, according to the Services, Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU).
The Irish pork industry is worth 400 million euros annually with exports amounting to 250 million euros.
The recall followed the discovery in pork of potentially dangerous dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were initially traced to an unnamed meat plant in the republic.
The investigation found contaminated pork with dioxin levels of 80 to 200 times above the safety limits. The dioxins have been traced to feed supplied from a County Carlow food recycling plant, 100 kilometres south of Dublin, Irish media reported.
As police investigations were continuing at 10 pig farms and 38 beef farms, Senior Inspector at the Department of Agriculture Dermot Ryan said Monday afternoon that oil "inappropriate to the type of operation" at the Carlow feed plant had been used.
Ryan said the oil had not been mixed into the food but was being used to heat food which was being converted into animal feed. The contaminated feed was supplied to nine farms in Northern Ireland which have been restricted, RTE reported.
Amid accusations that the government was too hasty in issuing the recall, Dr Patrick Wall, Associate Professor of Public Health at University College Dublin, and former chief executive of the FSAI, told RTE that the government had been left with no choice as the presence of the chemicals was illegal.
"However, at these levels it's a technical breach rather than a health issue. The Belgium government said that at these levels it didn't cause a risk to public health. The evidence that dioxins cause harm comes from situations where there are industrial accidents and people are exposed to huge doses.
"This is an economic tragedy for Ireland, not a public health problem," he added.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, was holding talks Monday with pig meat processors about getting Irish pork back on sale following the scare.
The processors had not resumed the slaughter of pigs Monday and warned they would not do so unless they got financial help from the government towards the cost of the product recall.
When processing resumes, Irish pig meat will carry a new label saying it was produced after December 7, and is unaffected by the current product recall.
Ed Hicks of Hicks Pork Butchers in Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, said the scandal "was a hammer blow" for butchers in the run-up to Christmas.
"There are obvious question marks about whether this was an over-reaction from government. It's a total mess," he said.
