THE closure of the ANM Group's Scotch Premier Meat plant at Gorgie in Edinburgh was officially confirmed yesterday, writes Robert Ross.

Chairman George Ritch said the company was reducing its involvement in the red meat industry.

Of the 122 staff at the Edinburgh plant, 80 have already accepted redundancy terms.

Talks are continuing with the remaining employees.

The group is also shutting down its Thistle Meat Specialists business which had originally been intended as the vehicle for the regeneration of the Edinburgh plant.

Scotch Premier undertook contract slaughter for Thistle Meat at Edinburgh, handling about 700 cattle a week.

The plant also killed up to 5000 lambs a week for its own export business to France.

ANM had invested heavily at Gorgie over the past two years, implementing the latest technology to provide state-of-the-art production facilities.

The closure of the Edinburgh plant is the latest indication of the fragility of the abattoir sector which is widely acknowledged to be in need of rationalisation.

Earlier this year, ANM was revealed as a member of a consortium which bought and closed down the Lockerbie Meat Packers plant as part of a ''private enterprise'' exercise to remove surplus capacity.

Brian Pack, chief executive of the ANM Group, said the company's decision to reduce its exposure to the vagaries of the red meat sector stemmed from Thistle Meat's loss of an Asda supply contract to ABP in Perth.

He said the triple pressures of supermarkets controlling the red meat market, renderers exerting almost monopoly powers and an industry which was having to work at a major disadvantage to its European competitors had made the red meat industry highly unprofitable.

The group's hope was that the major decision to shut down the Edinburgh operation would leave it in a strong position to take advantage of future opportunities.

The Scotch Premier plant at Inverurie will continue as a major supplier of red meat and is expected to absorb about 10 of the 40 staff from Thistle Meat.