Slaughterhouses standards queried

Abdul Khalik ,The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite claims by the administration that all licensed poultry slaughterhouses in Jakarta follow the procedures that have been stipulated by the authorities to curb the spread of bird flu, most slaughter houses have still a long way to go.

At three slaughter houses in Ciputat, Tangerang, and one in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, the procedures used to slaughter chickens were found not to be in compliance with the standards set by the Ministry of Agriculture.

In a big slaughterhouse in Ciputat, which can kill 3,000 chickens per day, workers were seen unloading chickens from trucks without gloves and masks. They were not sprayed with disinfectant or provided with any form of protective gear.

The butchers who kill the chickens are only provided with special knives and boiling water. After the birds have been killed, they are sold directly to awaiting buyers.

"We are hoping that preventive measures will already have been taken on the poultry farms. All the workers and the trucks carrying the chickens are sprayed with disinfectant before entering or leaving the farms. When they arrive here, we consider the chickens to be healthy," said Bedrus, an employee of the slaughterhouse.

He said he believed that they were following the stipulated procedures and that the slaughterhouse had not changed its practices for over 10 years.

"So far, there have been no complaints from the Jakarta Husbandry Agency," he said.

In two smaller slaughter houses in Ciputat and another in Pasar Minggu, neither workers nor buyers were seen wearing protective gear, whether before, during or after the slaughtering process.

The husbandry agency's head of meat products and health unit, Hery Indyanto, said there were standard protective procedures that should be applied during the three processes.

"Wearing gloves, spraying disinfectant and checking the chickens before and after slaughtering are the minimum protective measures that need to be applied in all slaughterhouses. The workers must hang up the slaughtered chickens immediately, and must not pile them up. They must also keep good meat separate from offal," he said.

He admitted, however, that only the city's 50 legal slaughterhouses followed the procedures. The other 1,000 slaughterhouses in the city did not apply the procedures at all.

"Most of the slaughterhouses ignore the procedures simply because they are not used to them or they don't want the additional expense," he said.

Hery admitted that the agency had yet to take any action against the slaughterhouses "as we are afraid it would cause even greater public disquiet. The impact of the stern action could be very far-reaching."

So far, the agency has only advised people to cook chicken meat and eggs properly at temperatures of above 80 Celsius for the meat and above 60 Celsius for eggs to avoid being infected by the virus.

The World Health Organization has confirmed that five people have died in Southeast Asia because of the virus while in Indonesia a three-and-a-half-year-old boy in Bali is suspected to be suffering from the virus.

So far, the Ministry of Agriculture says it has no plans to cull poultry suspected of being infected with the virus due to inadequate funds and fears that the move would be ineffective.