Pork scare firm offers €6.5m in legal row
Wednesday November 04 2009
THE Co Wexford company at the centre of the pork dioxin scare last year, which saw the recall of sausages and rashers from supermarket shelves, wants to pay €6.5m to 17 individuals and businesses affected by the crisis.
The company is alleged to have supplied animal feed containing harmful dioxins, cancer causing chemicals, and is seeking to come to a court approved deal with people who have sued them.
The scandal was a major embarrassment for Irish agriculture after high levels of dioxins were found in some pig samples, which forced the recall of all Irish pork products produced from pigs slaughtered in the State.
The deal would see €6.5m being shared among 17 individuals and companies who have sued Millstream Recycling Ltd, Clohamon Mills, Bunclody, Co Wexford, for about €20m.
The contamination of the feed in December 2008 resulted in the recall after pig meat on a number of farms was found to have had between 80 and 200 times more dioxins that the recognised safety limit.
Millstream Recycling was yesterday granted permission by the High Court to apply to enter a scheme of arrangement with those who have brought actions over being supplied feed containing dioxins.
Gary McCarthy, for Millstream, said that following consultations with its insurers, the firm is insured for a maximum of €6.5m. However, it is anticipated claims against the company were in the region of €20m.
As a result, the company is proposing to enter into a scheme with all those claimants where the €6.5m would be divided up between them.
Creditors
Counsel said that if the scheme was not accepted by the creditors, the company would face going into liquidation as it would be insolvent.
As part of the scheme, a stay would be placed on all actions against it. It was also proposed that the scheme would be voted on in March of next year following a meeting of the creditors.
Through no fault of Millstream, counsel said that polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs) were contained in oil Millstream had purchased to use in the feed manufacturing. Millstream had not tested their feed for PCBs because they had been banned in the 1970s. Mr Justice Roderick Murphy granted Millstream permission to bring its scheme of arrangement application on November 16.
- Tim Healy
Irish Independent
