Ireland-Italy slam the door on Irish beef.

IRELAND.

ITALY REFUSE IRISH CATTLE.

THE TRADE BETWEEN Ireland and Italy in live cattle is valued at around 200 million euros a year.

Beef producers in Italy cannot get the meat plants or wholesalers to take Irish bred cattle, in the wake if the TB problems in Holland with English calves and the recent dioxin scare with Irish pork.

After the dioxin scare in December the Italian authorities refused entry of 48 containers of Irish beef and pork.

Irish store cattle that have been finished in Italy are quite worthless, as no one wants to buy the meat.

Exports of beef have ground to a halt and Irish beef plants have pulled back the prices.

In 2008 there were 45,000 Irish cattle shipped to Italy from Ireland.

It was indeed the Irish Farm Association who were the main instigators of the Brazilian beef ban just one year ago. There is an old saying in the meat trade "What goes around comes around".

This is a problem that is not going to b resolved anytime soon.