Lack of CO2 hits EU beer, meat production

LONDON — Europeans may have to cut back on their summer barbecues.

A shortage of carbon dioxide that has already halted some beer production is also hitting food processing companies. Scotland’s biggest pork producer said Tuesday 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 shelf-life 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 has caused fertilizer makers to shut down more plants than usual. Though the shortage is Europe-wide, Britain’s gas manufacturers have suffered additional mechanical problems that have further reduced supply.

Overall production of carbon dioxide was already 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 the shortage of carbon dioxide “might well affect the price of meat.” Many major suppliers “will have to make very serious decisions about their levels of production.”

In Britain, the government prioritizes carbon dioxide for use in hospitals and fireextinguishers, so companies that use the gas for manufacturing — of goods as diverse as fizzy drinks and meat — are being supplied with less.

Small brewers and farmers are particularly vulnerable. Alex Gordon, the manager of Maidland’s Farm in Scotland, worries that because slaughterhouses set prices, the amount of money given to farmers “would hit the ground.”

“Farmers could make less money,” he said.

Zoe Davies, CEO of Britain’s National Pig Association, says the shortages could last weeks for some companies but is hopeful that the pig industry will not suffer lasting damage. Davies said no work is being canceled so far, with major farms moving their pigs to other slaughterhouses.