ONE hundred and fifty organisations have united to oppose a European threat to smaller UK abattoirs and cutting plants.

The proposal would allow full recovery from the industry of all meat inspection costs and make changes to the arrangements for disposal of blood by-products.

If applied on a plant by plant basis, smaller plants could see the cost per animal increase from about £3 to a staggering £100 - making them uneconomic.

For large plants, the increase would be from £2-£3 to £10 an animal, making them less competitive against overseas counterparts.

The campaigners want Defra to insist on the status quo, maintaining charges at a proportionate level.

Organisations involved range from the Country Land and Business Association to the Soil Association and the National Federation of Women's Institutes, and from the NFU and the Tenant Farmers' Association to Compassion in World Farming. They warn that the impact would go far beyond the meat and livestock industry.

Dorothy Fairburn, Yorkshire regional director of the CLA, said the charges would spell the end of the line for small and medium-sized abattoirs. "The extent of the knock-on effects on the rural economy and beyond is vividly demonstrated by the diversity of organisations that have united in opposition to this serious threat to the countryside," she said.

"The Curry Report and the foot-and-mouth inquiry reports recognised the significance of small and medium-sized enterprises to a sustainable rural economy," said Miss Fairburn.

"We can't afford to lose our smaller local abattoirs and cutting plants. They process 49pc of UK livestock and are needed to deal with specialist and local meats, to provide jobs in rural communities and to minimise distances travelled by animals."

The Animal By-Products Regulation, due for introduction next April, would require all abattoirs to collect and store blood for later disposal by costly means not currently employed in the UK.

While some large abattoirs already collect and dispose of blood, many do not and the by-product is disposed of, with the approval of water companies, via the sewage system or to land.

Under the new arrangements, smaller abattoirs would have to invest in refrigerated storage tanks, where blood would await collection, probably weekly. This could give rise to planning issues and mean substantially increased long-distance lorry journeys.

Campaigners insist there is no scientific or other rational basis for the imposition of blood storage and central disposal. They are urging Defra to request a permanent derogation for smaller abattoirs and a transitional period for all abattoirs.

They warn that the loss of the UK's network of local abattoirs would have serious implications for Defra's rural regeneration and regional food strategies. Projects and enterprises from butchers and organic farms to ethnic slaughterers and local pubs and restaurants would also be affected