Twenty tons of the twenty-year-old Irish beef that was impounded in Bulgaria earlier this year will be incinerated in a furnace in the town of Shumen.

This will be the first batch of discoloured meat to be burned in the incinerator and hopefully will be followed by more, owner Toshko Aleksandrov told Darik News.

A total of 75 tons of meat was blocked at Bulgaria's southwest border with Greece in January after the documents raised suspicions.

The news triggered a huge scandal in Bulgaria, which will turn into an external border of the European Union after its expected accession on January 1, 2007. While the EU called for toughening up food safety standards, local media claimed old meat may have made its way to the tables of many Bulgarians.

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