Mad cow disease not a threat: Officials
Mad cow disease not a threat: Officials
JAKARTA (JP): Officials on Monday played down the possibility
of mad cow disease entering the country, saying that all beef
from Ireland has passed quarantine tests and are all shipped as
frozen meat.
Besides, they said, out of Jakarta's daily consumption of 133
tons of imported beef, only seven tons, or about 5 percent, is
shipped from Ireland.
President of the city-owned meat distributor PD Dharma Jaya,
Prabowo Soenirman, said that most of the imported beef sold in
the markets here are from neighboring countries of Australia and
New Zealand which usually arrive much faster.
"Jakartans, therefore, should not worry because we have
inspected the meat whilst in quarantine and we have a team of
doctors to recheck everything before we distribute the meat,"
Prabowo said.
Judging from the amount of total meat shipped from overseas,
"the meat from Ireland constitutes less than 10 percent."
"So it won't be a problem at all," he remarked, adding that
European beef exported to the capital originates only from
Ireland.
The official comment came amidst a growing fear of mad cow
disease from European beef.
Over the past few weeks, there have been several cases of mad
cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopaty, discovered in
Europe.
Chief of the City Husbandry Agency, Edy Setiarto, echoed
Prabowo's statement, saying that the disease is only found in
innards and the brain of the cow, while Jakarta only purchases
the meat.
"We never import brain or innards, only meat. Besides, most
Indonesians do not consume meat as much as foreigners, so it
won't do any harm to local people," he said.
He said Jakarta authorities have no adequate reasons to halt
the import of beef from Ireland at the moment. The capital,
instead, badly needs extra beef to meet the soaring demand for
the coming holidays.
AP reported on Monday that there was a second case of the
disease confirmed in Germany, and German officials were
investigating animals from other herds in the state of southern
Bavaria with positive results so far.
The country immediately slaughtered the entire herd of 80 cows
and their brains have been examined for further signs of the
disease. The first confirmed case of the disease in Germany was
discovered last month.
The European Union has sought a temporary ban on the use of
meat and bonemeal in feed for livestock destined for human
consumption.
According to Edy, each of the 8.3 million Jakartans consumed
an average of 15 kilograms of meat per year, or about 41 grams
per year.
Consuming beef in such small amounts, he said, would not cause
sickness at all to people. (dja)