Health workers to monitor meat amid anthrax fears

Health workers to monitor meat amid anthrax fears

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As demand for meat is expected to increase during the Christmas
and New Year holidays and the Islamic Day of Sacrifice Idul Adha
on Jan. 10, the Jakarta administration is tightly monitoring
livestock coming into the city amid fears of the spread of
anthrax.

"We will tighten our supervision of livestock prone to
anthrax, like goats, sheep, cow and buffalo at their temporary
shelters and slaughterhouses," Jakarta Animal Husbandry,
Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Agency head Edy Setiarto said over
the weekend.

Edy said that the heightened supervision ranged from checking
the required health manifests attached to the animals to physical
examination before and after the slaughter.

"We have asked veterinarians from the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture and other health workers to monitor the cattle at the
checkpoints," he told the press briefing.

More than 650 vets and health workers are expected to augment
the 150-strong team of agency officials.

"As a precautionary measure, we have examined 123 specimens
from livestock and 534 samples of meat sold in the markets. The
results were negative," he said.

Jakarta consumes over than 300 cattle every day, mostly
originating from Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, East
Nusatenggara, West Nusatenggara, Lampung and Greater Jakarta.

Concern of the risks of eating meat rose after a report of
anthrax-infected cows in Makassar, South Sulawesi, three weeks
ago.

The agency has declared the city temporarily closed to cattle
originating from South Sulawesi.

"We require all livestock entering the capital to have
manifests issued by the respective local animal husbandry
agencies certifying that the livestock are healthy," Edy said.

The demand for livestock here is expected to peak ahead of
Idul Adha where most mosque managements across the city will buy
cattle, which will be slaughtered and then distributed to the
congregations and the needy.

As part of efforts to minimize the spread of anthrax virus
during the killing of the cattle, which is usually done in open
spaces in mosque yards, the agency has also called on the people
to allow city-owned slaughterhouses to handle this year's
ceremony.

Anthrax infection in humans is of particular concern during
Idul Adha as it occurs through direct exposure to diseased
livestock, meat and animal products or through eating undercooked
meat. Infection can occur through the skin, through inhalation
and through the gastrointestinal tract. The disease is often
fatal, though treatable with antibiotics if discovered early.

"We highly recommend that people allow our slaughterhouses to
handle the killing so that we can better monitor the health of
the cattle that will be distributed to the congregations," said
director of city-owned slaughterhouse operator PD Dharma Jaya,
Liliansari Loedin.

Liliansari said her company would perform the slaughter in
accordance with Islamic tradition and put the meat in one-
kilogram bags ready for distribution.

"We only require them to pay Rp 5,000 per goat for the
slaughter fee and Rp 30,000 per cow," she said.

The company will charge for the issuance of health documents,
Rp 1,000 for a goat and Rp 4,000 for a cow.