CONTAMINATED OIL:TWO MEN based in the Republic have now been identified as middle men in the supply of contaminated oil from Northern Ireland to the feed recycling plant in Carlow at the centre of the pigmeat crisis, according to Garda sources.
The Garda's National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is working on the case, believe their account of what oil product they procured from a Co Tyrone plant and how they sold it on to Millstream Recycling will be vital in determining if low-grade oil entered the supply chain as a higher grade product.
Representatives of Millstream have already been spoken to by gardaí and have told officers they paid for, and believed they had received oil of the quality needed to comply with safety standards.
In a short statement yesterday morning to newspapers, the company said: "Millstream has only ever purchased oil from a legitimate supplier in the Republic".
The PSNI, who are liaising with the gardaí in the investigation, have been joined by officers from the Environment Protection Agency of Northern Ireland at a business premises in Co Tyrone.
Sources close to the cross-Border investigation believe the oil used in the food recycling facility was contaminated with oil from electricity transformers which contained PCBs (PolyChlorinated Biphenyls) because they do not conduct electricity easily and are not very flammable.
Mineral oil is used as an insulator in electricity transformers, capacitors and switching equipment. After 20 - 30 years in operation, the oil degrades and needs to be replaced. This is difficult and expensive to dispose of and must be secured in special storage areas or incinerated under strict controls.
In the 1960s and 1970s, toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds were used as insulating oils in the electricity industry because of their enhanced thermal, fire safety and stability properties. PCBs were later found to be toxic and were banned in the late 1970s.
Many older transformers still retain low levels of PCB oil while others have been cross-contaminated with the toxic compounds.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the levels of contamination of cattle on the 45 cattle farms on which the feed was used continued across the country,
There were no more results of tests from the cattle herds being examined for traces of dioxins. There are almost 10,000 cattle on the 45 farms that are under investigation.
These animals cannot be moved until they are fully cleared and no decision has been taken yet as to what will be done with them.
Technically, they could be processed for food if no high levels of dioxins are found but this decision will not be taken until next week.
The cattle from the three farms that had animals on them that were found to be above the limits for PCBs will be slaughtered and their bodies rendered at rendering plants that handle the risk material from BSE.