Originally from: brentns
                        

From: "David" <...>
Subject: RE: [farmtalking] RE: CONCERNS OVER LIVE EXPORTS
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 15:23:47 +0100

"So, between 1985 and 2000, the number of abattoirs fell from 1,022 to 387.
Over the same period, the average number of animals killed each week has
risen from 13,313 per abattoir to 32,729. The consequences of this policy
have been made evident by the course of the latest outbreak of
foot-and-mouth. When the first case was identified, the focus of
investigation fell on Cheale Meats in Little Warley, Essex. It has since
been established that more than 600 farms, from as far away as
Northumberland, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland
and Scotland, send their meat there".

Thats interesting Colleen. If 387 slaughter houses kill 32729 animals per
week, that is 12.666 million animals per week. If they kill for 50 weeks
of
the year the total is 633.5m animals per year. Can someone check out my
arithmetic incase I have got the decimal point in the wrong place because I
would have thought the figure would be about 60m per year. If indeed the
figure is 633m, we do have the capacity to export slauhtered meat.

David

Hi David,

Probably we would need a breakdown by animal type..
How much poultry, for example, is processed in the UK..
Surely they must be including poultry for so large a total number of animals..

It seems that the total of animals slaughtered has only gone down slightly.. the increased throughput per abattoir has almost offset the decline in abattoirs.. Just an observation, not advocating this. cause i'd like to see more "local" processing capability as well

All the Best
brent