The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has warned that it could take a fortnight for the UK’s CO2 shortage to ease, despite the arrival of supplies of the gas.
In a statement the BMPA said: “The CO2 shortage continues to cause considerable disruption throughout the meat supply chain. The BMPA welcomes the news that at least one plant has restarted production today.”
The organisation’s Chief Executive, Nick Allen, explained to the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “It has been one of the frustrations right the way through this crisis that the communication from the producers of CO2 hasn’t been very clear,” adding that the lack of clarity meant it was “so difficult to plan when you don’t know actually what’s going to happen”.
The shortage of CO2, caused by plants that produce the gas scaling back or halting production, is also impacting the wider food drinks industry.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, told the BBC: “We are expecting the situation to get better this week when a major plant comes back online…Â It is true that throughout the supply chain we’re on to emergency stores of CO2 and if that plant doesn’t come back online very quickly, we will be having severe shortages throughout the supply chain.”
