Tough fight for abattoir survival

By Andrew Shirley

HALF of Britains 350 remaining abattoirs could be forced to close if the current foot-and-mouth crisis is not resolved soon, predicts Richard North of the Small Abattoirs Association.

“The future is extremely bleak, even in the darkest days of our industry there has been some optimism but this time nobody can see a way through,” he says.

Opinion is divided over whether the mooted proposals to allow restricted movement of livestock will help smaller abattoirs.

Mr North fears they will be bypassed in favour of a few large operations.

However, others in the meat industry believe it is vital MAFF confirms the details of the scheme as quickly as possible.

Lack of throughput means factories will grind to a halt, says Tony Ambler of Flagship Foods.

“At the moment the processing side of our business is not affected because we have secured sufficient contracts with our Danish suppliers.”

Malton Foods, one of the UKs largest pork processors, has so far avoided any lay-offs by maintaining its throughput using up to 80% imported meat.

But, according to a spokesperson, 110 workers at the firms main slaughter department have been sent home on full pay.

If the crisis deepens such arrangements may prove unsustainable and the GMB union estimates over 10,000 workers could be laid off indefinitely.

Supermarkets seem confident they can weather the storm and do not envisage customers will be faced with empty shelves.

Asda had sufficient stocks for the next seven days, says spokeswoman Sophie Throup.

She says the supermarket, which usually sells 8000t of British meat per week, is confident of making up any shortfall using imports from the continent and the Republic of Ireland.

All of the major multiples have pledged to revert to home produced supplies as soon as the situation allows.