Govt plan to import beef blasted<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The cattle industry and the Indonesian Consumers
\nFoundation lambasted the government's plan to import beef and
\nbuffalo meat from India, demanding the cancellation of the
\n\"insensible decision\".<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Meat Producers and Feedlot (Apfindo) said on
\nMonday the potentially contaminated meat from India might
\nthreaten local cattle with contagious diseases.<\/p>\n
Apfindo chairman Nurendro Trikesowo said the plan would hurt
\nthe local cattle industry, which had begun to export beef to
\nother countries.<\/p>\n
\"If the imported meat from India spread diseases to our
\ncattle, we would never be able to enter the export market,\"
\nNurendro said.<\/p>\n
The chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, Tini
\nHadad, warned the government on Monday that importing meat from
\nIndia could introduce harmful and contagious diseases into the
\ncountry's cattle.<\/p>\n
Importing meat would be even riskier because of the low
\nstandards of monitoring and controlling meat in Indonesia. \"If we
\nare careless in inspecting imported meat, the impact would be
\nquite devastating,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Tini said India had not eliminated harmful diseases, like
\nfoot-and-mouth disease and rinderpest, the highly contagious
\nbovine pleuropneumonia, from its cattle industry.<\/p>\n
The Office International des Epizooties (OIE) has declared
\nrinderpest the most dangerous animal disease in the world, with a
\n90 percent mortality rate, Tini said.<\/p>\n
\"According to OIE, India has not been declared free from these
\ndiseases,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, on the other hand, eradicated the diseases in 1990
\nafter a plague hit the country's cattle in 1987.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general of the Indonesian Association of Cattle
\nFarmers, Teguh Budiana, said on Monday the plan to import meat
\ncould crush local cattle breeders.<\/p>\n
Teguh said local cattle breeders might not be able to compete
\nwith the imported meat. (das)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-plan-to-import-beef-blasted-1447893297",
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