Rendering in store for recalled produce
Contaminated goods in shops were to be returned to the processor of origin.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended ultimate disposal by rendering of pork in the commercial chain and on farms. The four facilities licensed and permitted to render the material are: College Proteins, Premier Proteins, Dublin Products and Waterford Proteins.
EPA sources said the risk to the environment is deemed not as high as from direct consumption, at the concentration of PCB found in affected meat. Measured in picograms (one-trillionth of a gram), the contamination was about 200pg/g or less, (the safe levels are 1pg/g in pig flesh and 1.5pg/g in pig fat).
Because there is no suitable incinerator in Ireland, the EPA did not recommend incineration of recalled meat. Export for incineration was regarded as impractical and too costly.
Meat and bone meal from rendering was to be disposed of by combustion as an auxiliary fuel at Lagan Cement in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, or exported for incineration. Tallow oil from rendering was to be disposed of by use as boiler fuel at rendering facilities, or combustion at Lagan Cement.
* Householders were asked to place recalled pork goods in their black bins for disposal in the normal manner.
