Rendering bottleneck is latest Brexit scare

The EU Commission has been warned of problems looming for rendering companies in the EU-27 which have been shipping Category I Meat and Bone Meal to the UK for incineration.

The EU-27 has nearly one million tonnes per year of Category I Meat and Bone Meal from livestock processing to get rid of, and a significant amount is sent to the UK, mainly because it has developed such a significant infrastructure to incinerate this specific material, since the 1990s, unlike other EU countries.

A hard Brexit without a transitional period would rule out shipping Meat and Bone Meal to the UK, which would undoubtedly constitute a big problem for the rendering industry in Ireland and mainland Europe, according to the European Fat Processors and Renderers Association (EFPRA), of which the Federation of Irish Renderers is a member.

The 27 Member States do not have enough incineration capacity for the safe disposal of this material, which is governed by strict EU disposal regulations since the BSE outbreaks of the 1990s.

EFPRA has urged the Commission to extend authorisation of the shipping of Category I material to the UK, in case of a hard Brexit.