Madcow fears don't hamper RI meat imports

JAKARTA (JP): The government will continue to import beef from the Republic of Ireland despite fears of spreading madcow disease into Indonesia, a senior government official said here on Friday.

Budi Tri Akoso, the director for animal health department at the Ministry of Agriculture, said importing the beef from the country would cause no problems.

"Based on the results of a study made by a special team dispatched to Ireland in 1999, the country is free from madcow disease," he told The Jakarta Post.

In addition, he said, a joint team has been assigned to inspect the beef that will be shipped to Indonesia to ensure that the meat is free from the disease.

In order to reduce the risk, the government only allows the importation of "deboned meat", not including brains, nerves, and lymphatic tissues, usually contaminated by the disease, Budi said.

In 1996, the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry of the Ministry of Agriculture banned all imports of beef and some derivative products, including medicine and cosmetics, from countries in Western Europe with recorded cases of madcow.

In order to cope with the acute shortage of quality meat, the government allowed in December last year importation of beef from Ireland.

The move has caused controversy here because the permit was issued when many countries have decided to ban imports of meat from Europe because of madcow disease.

Madcow or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a brain- wasting disease that has killed thousands of cattle in Europe and can be transmitted to humans through contaminated beef. The human form of BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, has killed more than 80 people in Britain and two in France since 1996.

Budi said that Indonesia, which at present relies on Australia and the United States for the supply of quality meat, had little choice, but to resume meat imports from Ireland to meet increased local demand.

He stressed that the imports from Ireland were handled carefully and strict procedures were followed.

For example, licensed companies are allowed to import only meat from grass fed cows. These are considered to have less risk of being infected by the disease.

The meat should also be taken from male cows no older than 30 months, he said, adding that in most cases madcow affected only cows older than 36 months.

"Such tough prerequisites are applied to ensure the public that our imported beef is safe," Budi asserted, adding that there were many other prerequisites.

He said his office also placed its expert staff to supervise the importing process and: "They are also assigned to periodically monitor the country's health," he added.

In addition to Ireland, Australia and the United States, Indonesia also imports beef from New Zealand.

Budi said that the government would soon allow imports of beef from Germany, Canada and Argentina.

"We don't want to import beef from countries that are infected by contagious disease such as hand, foot and mouth, or madcow like those from India, Malaysia and China," he said, adding that it was the reason why Indonesia faced difficulties to find safe sources.

Indonesia was the only Asian country that was free from, "hand, foot and mouth" disease, he added, saying that if such diseases infected a single place in Indonesia, in a short time, it would spread all over country.

"So, the public has to be informed on the issue ... there is no need to panic," he added.(03)