The BSE crisis in Europe has claimed its first political victims with the dramatic resignation of the German Health Minister, Ms Andrea Fischer, and the Agriculture Minister, Mr Karl-Heinz Funke.
The resignations came as the EU's Slaughter for Destruction Scheme, due to start on Monday, did not begin in Ireland amid confusion and continuing negotiations between the Department of Agriculture and the processing industry.
Announcing her decision to resign in Berlin, Ms Fischer of the Greens said she had taken the action because the public had lost confidence in her ministry. "I hope that by resigning I can contribute to an end of the revelations and help promote a return to business as usual."
Mr Funke's resignation was also accepted by the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder.
The EU Food Safety Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, has warned that Ireland must choose between incinerating culled cattle and burying them following an approved rendering process.
"Those are the options available, and it's up to each member-state to choose between them," he said.
"There's a resistance to thermal plants in Ireland. But my advice is that highly-effective thermal plants are not a danger to the environment."
Mr Byrne also indicated that another anti-BSE measure, the banning of meat-and-bonemeal in animal feed, could be extended beyond the six months for which it was imposed. The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, has confirmed that Irish beef plants are seeking tenders to put more than 2,000 tonnes of beef into EU intervention. This will deliver prices similar to or higher than the destruction scheme.
The EU Commission does not favour intervention as a solution to the crisis, particularly as it would have to pay all the costs, unlike the destruction scheme which is almost totally funded by national governments.
The beef plants and farmers are wary of the mass slaughter of Irish animals, fearing it might send out signals internationally that the BSE problem in the State is greater than it is. There have also been practical difficulties in putting the destruction scheme in place at factory level.
The beef plants and farmers insist the only way forward is to test all animals over 30 months going into the food chain. Ireland could then try to reopen non-EU markets which closed in November by offering "tested BSE-free beef".
The Department has also confirmed that the first 7,000 animals over 30 months tested for BSE in Irish plants since last week were "as expected" all BSE-free.
However, the Independent senator, Ms Mary Henry, has demanded that the Department publish BSE figures weekly on the grounds that BSE had now become a major public health matter.
It was also reported that a ship carrying Irish beef had been turned away from Egypt where the authorities in late November imposed a temporary ban on the issuing of new licences for importation of beef from the EU.
Mr Byrne, who was speaking in Stockholm during an EU Commission visit at the start of Sweden's EU Presidency, acknowledged that the question of how to dispose of such a huge volume of carcasses under the destruction scheme would arouse conflicting passions.