T

he Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) pressed the Jakarta administration to ensure that city-appointed centralized poultry abattoirs observed halal procedures.

A few weeks before the administration enforces regulations to scrap all poultry abattoirs from inner city areas, questions remain about how the administration will manage the processing of large numbers of chickens in its five appointed abattoirs.

The deputy chief of MUI's commission on edicts, Muhammad Amin Suma, reminded the administration about the importance of labeling food halal in the country.

"Being halal doesn't stop at obtaining a certificate, but it is also about continuously supervising processes to maintain public trust," said Amin, a professor of sharia law at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta.

Among the necessary measures, he said, was the selective recruitment of butchers and operators of the abattoir machines.

Amin said the semiautomated slaughtering technique used by the centralized abattoirs, which includes electrocuting chickens, did not violate halal procedures.

"The low voltage electrocution is acceptable as it doesn't severely torture the chickens," he said.

In an effort to curb the spread of the H5N1 virus, the city administration in 2007 issued a bylaw stipulating the centralization of chicken meat processing in Jakarta.

According to the planning, starting on April 24 all chicken processing stages would be run in five appointed abattoirs. They are located in Rawa Kepiting, Cakung and Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta, North Petukangan in South Jakarta and the privately owned PT Kartika Eka Dharma in West Jakarta.

Other abattoirs are currently being constructed.

The city's population consumes 600,000 chickens daily.

The five abattoirs are expected to process up to 450,000 chickens per day, with the remaining 150,000 to be supplied by abattoirs in Tangerang and Bekasi.

City chicken vendors have opposed the new regulation, citing fears of possible unemployment triggered by the mechanization of chicken processing in the new abattoirs.

Earlier this month, Jakarta Husbandry and Maritime Agency chief Edy Setiarto said his agency expected the MUI to issue halal certificates for all machines in the five abattoirs this month.