Government asks for calm despite mad cow fears

Dewi Santoso and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Government officials called on the public to remain calm despite fears of that people here were at risk from variant CJD, a degenerative brain disease caused by the consumption of meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease.

Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih said on Monday the government had taken precautionary measures to ensure that Indonesians were not at risk.

He was commenting on the discovery, mostly in big supermarkets in Jakarta between Dec. 29 and Dec. 31, 2003, of approximately 3.65 tons of fresh and processed beef that was illegally imported from the U.S., whose first mad cow case was discovered on Dec. 23.

"People in Indonesia should not worry about mad cow disease as the country only normally imports 4 percent of its total meat consumption," he said after a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the State Palace.

Bungaran said the President had asked him about the issue.

The minister said Indonesia imported meat mostly from Australia and New Zealand.

"Australia and New Zealand apply very strict regulations to the meat they export," he said.

"I guarantee you that 99.9 percent of domestic meat in Indonesia is free from mad cow disease."

He added that Indonesia's ban against meat imported from the U.S. and Canada would stand until the World Health Organization (WHO) revoked its international ban on meat from the two North American countries.

The U.S. government officially confirmed its first case of mad cow disease on Dec 23, based on samples taken on Dec. 9. The disease can spread through infected beef or cattle. It is fatal and is thus far incurable.

After it was disclosed that a single four-year-old Holstein cow tested positive for the brain-wasting disease, three top markets for U.S. beef exports, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea, banned imports of U.S. beef, followed a few days later by China and Indonesia.

Earlier in 2003, Indonesia banned imports of all animal products from Canada after a case of mad cow disease was confirmed there.

Separately, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has deployed inspectors throughout the country to check whether any processed beef from the U.S. had entered here illegally.

BPOM director general Deddy Fardiaz said the agency had being conducting checks since Dec. 27, 2003, when the government slapped an indefinite ban on the import of processed beef from the U.S.

"We have taken steps following the ban, including conducting field checks and confiscating illegally imported meat," Deddy said. He added that the question of how the illegal products had managed to get through customs and excise was another issue.

For now, he said, the confiscation of illegal meat was necessary as the BPOM needed to identify where the meat came from to ensure if it was free from mad cow disease.

"Although the checks are being carried out throughout the country, the inspections will focus mostly on big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya as more expatriates live there who consume imported beef," he told The Jakarta Post.