EU member states on Thursday (Dec 18) endorsed further market support measures for Irish pork, allowing the EU to co-fund the disposal of animals blocked over the dioxin scare, according to the European Commission.

Under the scheme, the EU will pay about 50 percent for the purchases of animals blocked on farms that have used tainted feed, and for certain pork inventories held in slaughterhouses.

The aim of the disposal scheme is to help Ireland to remove the potentially contaminated animals and products from the market.

The new market support measures followed last week's proposal of a private storage aid scheme for up to 30,000 tonnes of pork in Ireland. The scheme covers only pork coming from pigs reared on farms that did not use any tainted feed.

Ireland had recalled all pork and pork products produced since September 1, after dioxin contaminated was detected in several pig farms. Pig slaughtering was temporarily suspended, and several countries had banned imports of Irish pork.