Shortage of CO2 hits Euro meat production

EUROPEANS may have to cut back on their summer barbecues.

A shortage of carbon dioxide that has already drawn warnings from beer makers about potential production problems is also hitting food processing companies. Scotland’s biggest pork producer said yesterday it would run out of the gas in a week.

Slaughterhouses use industrially made carbon dioxide to stun animals before slaughter, and also use it in packaging to increase shelflife in stores.

It is obtained as a byproduct in the production of fertilizers. That means that companies that use the gas, like breweries and slaughterhouses, have no say in how much is produced.

Carbon dioxide production is usually lower in the summer because of the hot weather, but a string of problems across the sector in Europe have caused fertilizer makers to shut down more of their plants than usual. In addition, overall production of carbon dioxide is under pressure as the market for the fertilizer ammonium nitrate has weakened, said Nick Allen, head of the British Meat Processors Association.

“Things are getting tight,” he said.

Allen said a short supply of carbon dioxide “might well affect the price of meat”.

In Britain, the government prioritizes carbon dioxide for use in hospitals and fireextinguishers, so firms that use the gas for manufacturing are being supplied less.