On Wednesday, Brechin slaughter house in Angus suspended its processing facilities due to the Europeanshortage 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 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 by-product 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.

In a statement to the Farmers Journal, a spokesperson for poultry processor Moy Park said: “We are aware of CO2 supply issues across Europe and we will continue to monitor this carefully. We are taking appropriate measures to mitigate any impact.”

Knock-on effects

Both poultry and pig meat factories use CO2 as part of the slaughter process, while it is the gas used in retail packs favoured by supermarkets for all meats. Retail packing can operate with reduced levels of CO2, though it means reduced shelf life.

While industry is managing so far, everything depends on supplies returning to normal in the coming days.

There is a risk to food of contamination where lower quality gases are used. Food business operators should not seek to substitute food grade carbon dioxide with lower grade carbon dioxide.