Dharma Jaya proposes a meat center

Dharma Jaya proposes a meat center

JAKARTA (JP): In response to growing public concern over the
selling of wild boar meat as cheap beef, city-owned
slaughterhouse firm PD Dharma Jaya proposed the establishment of
a pork center to control the quality and distribution of meat, an
official said on Monday.

PD Dharma Jaya president Prabowo Soenirman said that with the
establishment of the center, his office would be responsible for
monitoring the health of the animals as well as pork
distribution.

"With the center, we can monitor the quality of pork meat to
ensure safe consumption before it reaches the markets," he told
reporters after meeting with Deputy Governor for Economics and
Finance Fauzie Alvi Yasin at City Hall.

Prabowo said that all animals would have to be quarantined and
medically examined for a few days at the pork center before they
could be sent to the slaughterhouse.

PD Dharma Jaya oversees six slaughterhouses. Two in East
Jakarta -- the Cakung slaughterhouse for cows and Pulogadung
slaughterhouse for chickens, goats and lambs --; Mampang
slaughterhouse in South Jakarta for chickens, goats and lambs;
Kapuk slaughterhouse in North Jakarta for pigs; and Tanah Abang
slaughterhouse in Central Jakarta for lambs and goats.

Prabowo said that at present such a center could only be found
at the Kapuk slaughterhouse.

"We'll also develop similar terminals at the five other
slaughterhouses," he said.

He said the demand for pork by residents in the capital was
500 pigs per day. The animals are transported to the Kapuk
slaughterhouse before they reach the market.

"At present, 17 percent of the capital's pork supplies are
butchered outside the Kapuk slaughterhouse. Therefore, we cannot
observe the quality of all the pork sold," he said. (lup)