A farm supplier who allegedly used stale bread still in plastic wrappings for animal feed is being investigated in connection with the dioxin alert in Irish pig meat, The Times has learnt.

The full impact in Britain of the incident over cancer-causing dioxins in pork, bacon, ham and sausages produced north and south of the Irish border is still unclear.

The Food Standards agency and supermarket chiefs are still waiting to hear if pig meat from the Republic and Northern Ireland was used in leading brands such as Wall’s, Porkinson, Pork Farm and Richmond Sausages, owned by the Irish company Kerry Foods.

A full list of products is expected from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Meanwhile an urgent industry-wide meeting has been called by the food watchdog in London tomorrow in an attempt to identify the items at risk.

Most fresh pork, gammon steaks and bacon on sale in the UK is thought to be unaffected. Questions remain however over sausages, sausage rolls, packs of cooked, sliced ham, salami and meat used as pizza toppings or in ready meals.

Consumers and food companies worried by the scare were urged by the agency to check labels to see if meat from the Republic or Northern Ireland was used in products and to destroy them.

But in many processed items such as ready meals it will be impossible for most people to identify the source of the meat from information on the label.

Figures from the British Pig Executive show that imports of Irish pig meat represent only about eight per cent of the total pork, bacon and ham imports.

In the first nine months of this year total pig meat imports into the UK were 631,500 tonnes of which 51,700 was from the Irish Republic.

Pork, bacon and ham labelled with the red, blue and white Quality Standard Mark logo and which also includes the Union Flag is a guarantee that the meat is British from farm to fork.

An alert over Irish pig meat has also been made in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The incident has left the Irish pig industry reeling and it could be several days before abattoirs are allowed to slaughter pigs to replenish stocks of pork, bacon and ham in the food chain.

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