Poultry workers take safety for granted

Poultry workers take safety for granted

At several poultry distribution centers in Jakarta which sell
live chickens to retailers, no precautionary measures were seen
being taken by the workers or customers, despite the bird flu
epidemic.

The Jakarta Post observed on Tuesday at the small distribution
points in Kemandoran, West Jakarta, and the bigger ones in
Pulogadung, East Jakarta, that the employees still worked with
their bare hands.

"We never examine chickens we receive from breeders because
there has never been anything wrong so far. We also don't need to
provide our workers with gloves or disinfectant because, for
years, everything has been safe," argued Mario, the owner of one
of the distribution centers in Kemandoran.

He said he ordered at least 2,000 chickens daily from several
producers in Bogor and Parung, both in West Java, and several
breeders in Central Java.

A worker at a different poultry center in Kemandoran, Karjo,
said that he had no idea whether he should wear safety gloves or
other equipment to prevent him from certain diseases.

He, then, prepared some 200 chickens for a buyer right on the
floor.

The buyer, Salman, a chicken retailer who rents a house in an
alley behind the poultry center and uses it as a slaughterhouse.
"I will slaughter these chickens myself tonight and sell the meat
tomorrow."

The situation is similar with the Pulogadung distribution
centers where thousands of chickens are brought in daily from
West and Central Java. These chickens are distributed to several
markets and restaurants in Jakarta.

Marius Widjajarta of the Indonesian Health Consumers
Empowerment Foundation highlighted the absence of safety
procedures right from the breeding farms up to the chicken
vendors.

"The health agency together with other relevant agencies
should take steps to ensure that consumers are safe. At least,
they should promote to people how to prevent such a disease from
spreading," said Marius. -- JP