Job cuts still possible

DUNGANNON MEATS have not ruled out further job losses among more than 1,000 employed at its plants in the UK and Ireland, after losing an order to supply 40% of the packaged beef requirements of the J Sainsbury supermarket chain in the UK.

The family-owned business founded in 1976 has become one of the most successful in Ireland. It includes Newgrange Meats, Navan, Co Meath and the Exel plants at Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath.

The Co Tyrone-based company has already announced the closure of a meat packing plant in east Belfast, with the loss of 30 jobs. Sainsburys has opted to use a single supplier, Anglo Beef Processors, boosting the Larry Goodman beef empire’s sales to the chain from €200m a year to around €300m.

Goodman will supply Sainsbury from the seven regional livestock processing plants of his UK subsidiary ABP, including two in Northern Ireland.