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Brechin slaughterhouse in Angus has suspended its processing facilities due to the European shortage of CO2 used to kill animals.
“We’re shut as of today (Wednesday) as we’ve run out completely of CO2,” chief executive of Scottish Pig Producers Andy McGowan told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“We’ve only got one big pig abattoir in Scotland and that’s the one that’s closed.
“We’ve about 1,000 pigs heading for England now.
“The biggest concern is that we cannot get the gas company to tell us when we will get the next delivery. It could be tomorrow or it could be next month.”
CO2 gas is a byproduct of fertiliser production, and a shortage is understood to have occurred as a result of five of the main fertiliser processors in Europe currently being shut down for maintenance.
It is also understood that one of the biggest poultry processors in the UK, Two Sisters, has switched to electrical stunning rather than using diminishing supplies of CO2.
Ireland
The Irish poultry processor Manor Farms has said it is down to a supply of “days rather than weeks and trying to get it anywhere”.
It’s also understood that pig processor Rosderra did not kill last Friday in an effort to manage supplies.
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