Meat plant throws away 1.8 tonnes of food

Isle of Man Meat run the island's only meat plant

More than 1.8 tonnes of meat were thrown away earlier this month at the Isle of Man meat plant, the environment, food and agriculture minister has said.

Clare Barber MHK confirmed the amount in Tynwald after being asked how much meat was disposed of each month in 2024.

The waste followed the recall and destruction of some beef products in January after a faulty packaging machine caused production delays.

Ms Barber said no meat was discarded in February and March, but the April figure was due to "errors in stock management, some stock reaching past its shelf life, and some return stock".

She said while it was "always disappointing to dispose of any meat" the amount lost so far during the month equated 0.01% of the 1,950 tonnes on average per year processed by the facility.

However, Bill Henderson MLC said the amount of product thrown away was "far from" small.

"Nearly two metric tonnes of meat is a colossal amount of disposal and really we need to be doing far better and looking at ways in the future to address the situation," he said.

'Care and attention'

Isle of Man Meats, which is owned by government but run at arm's length, receives a subvention of about £2m each year.

Ms Barber said she fully acknowledged the "care and attention given by our farming community in raising their animals" and work was be carried out to prevent similar incidents in future.

She said it was being taken "very seriously" by the plant's management, who were "ensuring that where are gaps in training and knowledge and training and awareness within staffing that is being addressed appropriately."

The aim was "always to minimise waste, as well as to maximise the opportunity to find commercially viable routes for those parts of the animal conventionally considered as waste products", she added.