Indonesian meat ban could be lifted today

Indonesian meat ban could be lifted today

SYDNEY (AFP): An Indonesian ban on meat from the Australian
state of New South Wales could be lifted as early as Thursday,
state Agriculture Minister Richard Amery said yesterday.

A spokesman for Amery said the minister would meet Indonesia's
director general of animal husbandry, Erwin Tirtawinarta, here
today to discuss the ban, which resulted from an anthrax outbreak
in neighboring Victoria state.

The spokesman said the ban would have no permanent effect on
the state's exports of beef and live cattle, despite Erwin's
reported comments Wednesday that Indonesia was already turning to
new meat suppliers, including the United States and New Zealand.

"This is all really the result of a communications breakdown,
there has been no anthrax outbreak in New South Wales," the
spokesman said.

He said although the few anthrax cases in the state this year
were nothing out of the ordinary, Indonesian authorities had
linked them to a Victorian anthrax outbreak in January which
killed cattle on more than 80 farms and led to more than 600
properties being quarantined.

As a result, Indonesia banned beef and live cattle from both
states on March 10, although the Victorian ban was lifted last
week.

Erwin reportedly said officials were waiting for New South
Wales authorities to advise when the anthrax problem had been
resolved.

He said Indonesia would then consider a resumption of the
imports, the official Antara news agency reported Wednesday.

"For the time being Indonesia has turned to the U.S. and N.Z.
for its meat supply, while Argentina (is) still being
considered," Erwin said.

Anthrax is a highly infectious cattle disease that leads to
ulcerating nodules, lesions in the lungs and blood poisoning.
It can be transmitted to humans handling infected meat.

Beef and live cattle exports to Indonesia represent a
relatively small but growing market for Australian producers.