Canny butcher back selling sausages...using Belgian pork

While shelves in supermarkets throughout Meath were bare after the total pork recall, one Navan butcher was quick to source alternative pork from abroad and was back selling rashers and sausages yesterday (Tuesday). Charlie Walshe, a butcher at Blackcastle Shopping Centre, closed on Sunday and cleared all his Irish pork products from his shop but quickly set about sourcing alternative pork from Belgium. Mr Walshe cured the imported pork loins to make rashers and also had back bacon joints for sale and was able to make his famous Lorenzo"s pork sausages with the imported sausage meat. 'There was no Irish pork on the market so we had no choice but to compromise and get the Belgian pork,' said Mr Walshe. He added that people were very wary once the Irish product was taken off the market. He said business had been very badly affected and is trying to get word out there that people can buy bacon and sausages again. He also sells low fat chicken sausages and beef sausages. Mr Walshe said butchers were still waiting to get the all-clear to sell Irish pork again and that they don"t know how much longer the ban will last. And at least one butcher in Meath plans to be first in the race to get pork back on the shelves for sale - James Smyth says he will have fresh supplies which have been passed for consumption on sale this morning (Wednesday). James, who has his butcher"s shop at Dougherty"s Service Station, Wilkinstown, Navan, said he wanted to get back into pork sales as quickly as possible. 'It"s important that we have the confidence of our customers and, as soon as I could get supplies that were cleared for consumption, then I ordered them up,' he said. His supplier, Terry Gough of Deerpark Foods, Slane, was on his way to the Smyth shop with supplies yesterday afternoon. Mr Gough, who supplies carcases to the trade, said that stocks had been given the all-clear by the Veterinary Association of Ireland. While pork products were being put back on sale, the prospect of getting hams for Christmas was uncertain because of the length of time it would take to have them go through the curing process. Meanwhile, an extimated 60 to 80 jobs in the pig and pork industry in Meath were in doubt this week as the recall on pork products produced since September took effect. Workers at pig farms around the county and in the meat processing sector were fearful that unless the situation was quickly resolved, they would be facing a bleak Christmas without work. Farmers are facing a major nightmare as as the ban on slaughtering is leading to overcrowding and major health and safety issues on farms. Angry local farmers are annoyed that despite their products being safe and free from any contamination, there products cannot be sold. Kildalkey farmer Michael Connolly, who is British Standard Approved, said that farmers have to go to huge lengths to ensure traceability of all their products, but when something like this happens, they don"t see any benefit from the taceability. His animals have not been affected in any way by the contaminated foodstuffs, but he is still unable to move his pigs off the farm. He said the current situation was causing him major problems from an accommodation point of view and a financial one. 'We normally have pigs leaving this farm on a weekly business. There is usually a kill three times a week, but we cannot slaughter them, they are getting too big and we don"t have to campacity to hold onto them,' he said. Virgnia pig farmer, Michael Maguire, a former chairman of the IFA"s National Pig Committee, said that the events of the last few days showed that the system works and that the problem was identified,