We could get some of our bacon out today, or at least cleared today, but the Pork processors are playing brinkmanship with compensation talks with the Government.
Clearly, the processors feel that as they have lost significant export markets, and its now too late to attempt to get them back for the peak Christmas sales period, that they are hanging in for the maximum they can get. Their workforces have been laid off or are on protective notice.
Sadly, the small added value processors, like ourselves, won’t see a slice of this compensation package and there are several (maybe many) who rely on pork products for their living who may not come out of this debacle.
Ivan Yates has been pretty critical of the post recall handling, and I think that the Government needs to show who s running the country again – having damaged it initially, they must do something right sometime, surely! Government must get product moving today and order the processors to release information.
And the Vets must be allowed to get the information from the slaughterhouses and processors to clear product NOW.
Tomorrow will be too late for some…..
We now have clearance (verbally) from our Vet that the batch we smoked last weekend is clear and, once we get the paper work from him, we will have bacon available again.
This should be tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the batch that we have curing at the moment will not be released as one of the eight farms supplying the slaughterhouse has been contaminated.
More to follow no doubt……..
Update again……
We have now been advised that whilst we might have clearance, we now have to wait for additional hurdles and delays to be overcome.
Our Clearance Certificate has to be forwarded to the Dept of Agriculture’s offices in Portlaoise, who will check again that all is well; they will then send the information to Bord Bia who will then courier us down some labels which we will have to apply to our rashers before we can sell them.
So, maybe next week………?
Happy Christmas everyone.