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.