RI to import Irish meat, despite scare

RI to import Irish meat, despite scare

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to go ahead with plans to
import meat from Ireland despite a scare over contaminated
Belgian meat and food products, Minister of Agriculture Soleh
Solahuddin said here on Friday.

Soleh said it was almost impossible the Irish meat was
contaminated by the cancer-causing dioxin because the country was
located far enough away from Belgium.

Soleh said dioxin would be more likely to affect countries
which bordered on Belgium, including the Netherlands and France.

The ministry's director general of animal husbandry, Erwin
Soetirto, said Irish meat was cheaper because it was subsidized
by the Irish government.

He said imported beef from Ireland could be sold for Rp 13,000
per kilogram here, cheaper than Australian meat which was sold
for Rp 18,000 per kilogram.

"The Irish government only offers the subsidized meat to
Indonesia and the Philippines because they know that we are still
in a deep crisis. I think this is an opportunity we have to
take," he said.

Soleh said the Indonesian and Irish governments were
discussing the possibility of importing Irish meat.

"I will send a team headed by the director general of animal
husbandry to Ireland later this month to further discuss the
plan. The most important thing is that Ireland has been declared
free from the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease and
rinderpest," Soleh said.

In the wake of the dioxin scare, Erwin said it was unlikely
Indonesia would follow the lead of other Asian countries and ban
imports of farm and poultry products from Europe.

Indonesia does not import a significant amount of farm and
dairy products from Europe, choosing to import the majority of
these products from Australia and New Zealand.

"We do not import meat, chicken, dairy products or feed meal
from European Union countries, including Belgium, because their
prices are too high and the distance is too far, making the
transportation costs higher than when importing from Australia.

"However, we import their cheese products. As far as I know,
the amount (we import) is very small because most of the imported
cheese traded here is imported from Australia and New Zealand,"
he said.

Belgium announced in late-May that high-levels of the cancer-
causing dioxin found in its chickens and eggs had spread to the
country's pork, beef and dairy products.

China on Thursday joined the list of Asian countries
restricting Belgian -- and in some cases European -- food
imports. Countries which have also issued import restrictions
include Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and the
Philippines, as well as Hong Kong.

Reuters reported the European Union's executive body, the
European Commission, on June 2 ordered its 15 member states to
ensure all potentially dioxin-contaminated products, either food
or animal feed, be traced, removed from the market and destroyed.

Indonesia imported 16,000 tons of beef last year, over 80
percent of which was from Australia.

However, Soleh said the government would trace any imported
meat and food products from the European Union.

"If there is any case of dioxin-contaminated products here,
then we will issue a restriction (on food imports from the EU),"
he said. (gis)