PLANT INVESTIGATION:THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating the plant at the centre of the inquiry into contaminated pork products after it emerged the operator used "inappropriate" oil in the process used to make pig feed.
Senior officials at the Department of Agriculture said the plant, Millstream Recycling in Carlow, was classed as being at "relatively low risk" for contamination because of the business it was engaged in.
Dermot Ryan of the department said the factory took in human food products such as bread, dairy produce and crisps from a "highly regulated sector" and put them through a "fairly simple process" to make pig feed.
"Normally, we would regard such a premises as relatively low risk. We haven't in our experience over the last 10 years had any incident . . . of any significance in a premises such as this," he said.
Laboratory tests yesterday confirmed the oil being used in the burner used to create heat to dry the human food produce was "inappropriate" for use in that process.
"In such an establishment, you are required to use, by law, the appropriate oil. We have established that the oil being used was not appropriate for this type of operation," Mr Ryan said.
The EPA confirmed the Millstream plant was not agency-licensed. It did, however, have a permit from Carlow County Council for recycling waste food.
Mr Ryan said the plant in Carlow had been visited in 2006 and in 2007 and was due an inspection in 2008, which had not yet occurred. That had been scheduled for late November or December, he said.
He told a press conference attended by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, Ministers of State Trevor Sargent and Mary Wallace, the State's chief medical and veterinary officers and other officials that the specially trained staff around the country had "very considerable experience" on feed controls.
About 2,200 inspections were carried out each year, right throughout the feed chain, he said.
These included tests at the point of import, at all mills, at material mixture factories, at premises taking in food products from the food industries, at retail outlets and at about a thousand farms annually.
He said the inspections were based on a risk-assessment plan that was reviewed each year and that had been seen by the European Commission audit team as recently as last May.
Mr Ryan said the commission had given the Irish system "what we would consider to be a clean bill of health".
Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) chief executive Alan Reilly said the commission had sought an opinion on the likely health effects of the dioxin contamination.
An opinion had also been requested on the safety of "minor pork products", with a view to establishing whether time should be spent trying to trace products with relatively small quantities of pork in them, such as 2 per cent or 4 per cent pork content.
Mr Reilly said the FSAI would work with the European authority to provide the data on the levels of dioxin discovered and also the profiles of those particular dioxins.
He said the opinion should be available by tomorrow.
On whether he expected the EU to take steps to ban Irish pork products, Mr Reilly said it was an "evolving situation" but he believed the commission was satisfied with the Irish response to the crisis.
He said the response demonstrated that Ireland had put the emphasis on human health and that withdrawal of products was being done on a "precautionary basis".
In a statement, the EPA said it was "assisting the Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and other State agencies in their investigations into the circumstances surrounding the contamination of pork products".
"The facility at the centre of this investigation, Millstream Power Ltd, is not licensed by the EPA but holds a waste permit from Carlow County Council for the recycling of waste food.
"The EPA is advising that consumers can return the products to the place of purchase or dispose of them in their black or grey bin. Advice is also being provided by the EPA regarding the safe disposal of contaminated product in rendering plants licensed by the EPA."
A helpline set up for consumers had received at least 3,000 calls by early yesterday afternoon, Minister of State at the Department of Health Mary Wallace said.
At least half of them were inquiries about refunds.