© Getty Images/Monty Rakusen'It's snout what you think!'
British meat processors have become the
latest casualty of the growing energy crisis that threatens to result in a dire shortage of carbon dioxide gas, which is widely used throughout the food and drinks industry.Carbon dioxide is a by-product of fertiliser production that is
used to stun animals before slaughter as well as for the packaging process that prolongs the shelf life of all meat, and in fizzy drinks and beer.
However, soaring gas prices have brought about
a slowdown at some chemical factories in Europe that produce fertiliser, with a major US producer being
forced to halt operations at two manufacturing complexes in the UK for an uncertain period of time. Nick Allen, the chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) told the BBC after emergency talks with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that:
"This crisis highlights the fact that the British food supply chain is at the mercy of a small number of major fertiliser producers - four or five companies - spread across northern Europe. We rely on a by-product from their production process to keep Britain's food chain moving."
According to British Poultry Council chief executive Richard Griffiths,
some 20 million birds per week are slaughtered, but abattoirs are running out of carbon dioxide.
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