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LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Some of Britain's meat
processors will run out of carbon dioxide within five days,
forcing them to halt production, the head of the industry's
lobby group warned on Monday.
A jump in gas prices has forced several domestic energy
suppliers out of business and has shut fertiliser plants that
also produce carbon dioxide (CO2), used to stun animals before
slaughter and prolong the shelf-life of food.
The shortage of CO2, also used to put the fizz in beer,
cider and soft drinks, has compounded an acute shortage of truck
drivers in the UK, which has been blamed on the impact of
COVID-19 and Brexit.
"My members are saying anything between five, 10 and 15 days
supply," Nick Allen of the British Meat Processors Association
told Sky News.
With no CO2 a meat processor cannot operate, he said.
"The animals have to stay on farm, they'll cause farmers on
the farm huge animal welfare problems and British pork and
British poultry will disappear off the shelves," Allen said.
"We're two weeks away from seeing some real impacts on the
shelves. On the poultry side we're hearing they're even tighter
supplies so we might see poultry disappearing even sooner."
Allen said the government was working hard to try and
resolve the issue and could hopefully persuade a UK fertiliser
producer to re-start their plant.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents
retailers including the major supermarket groups, said the CO2
crisis added to existing pressures on production and
distribution.
"Retailers are working with their suppliers to resolve this
issue, but government must investigate this issue as soon as
possible and work with industry to ensure a solution is found
quickly and problems don’t escalate further," said Andrew Opie,
the BRC's director of food and sustainability.
Foreign office minister James Cleverly said the government
was looking to address short-term shortages.
"We will ensure that we are able to put food on the table,
obviously that is a real priority," he told Sky News.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and
Jason Neely)
