Slaughterhouses standards queried

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.