‘Christmas is safe’ after CO2 intervention

ENVIRONMENT, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary George Eustice said final details of the agreement to ensure the supply of CO2 for the food sector were still being worked on but “it’s going to be into many millions, possibly the tens of millions”. But he insisted intervention was necessary and that “Christmas is safe”.

CF Fertilisers suspended production at plants in Teesside and Cheshire due to soaring energy costs as global gas prices spiked.

The CO2 produced as a by-product at the plants is vital to the food industry, where it is used to stun animals in slaughterhouses and to keep packaged products fresh.

Mr Eustice defended the decision to pump tax money into the firm. “The truth is, if we did not act, then by this weekend, or certainly by the early part of next week, some of the poultry processing plants would need to close, and then we would have animal welfare issues – because you would have lots of chickens on farms that couldn’t be slaughtered on time and would have to be euthanised on farms. We would have a similar situation with pigs,” he told Sky News. It was “justified for the Government to intervene in this way, in a very short-term, targeted way” because “if we didn’t, there would be a risk to our food supply chain - that’s not a risk the Government is willing to take”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

CF Fertilisers produces 60% of the UK’s CO2, used mainly by the food sector but also in the health and nuclear industries. It is expected to immediately restart operations.

Mr Eustice said the food industry will have to accept a major hike in C02 rates, which could increase fivefold from £200 a tonne to £1,000, but there would not be a “major impact on food prices” for consumers. Mr Eustice told LBC Radio “Christmas is safe” .