Govt urged to beef up surveillance of slaughterhouses

The Indonesian Meat Importers Association (Aspidi) has urged the government to improve surveillance on slaughterhouses to ensure animal welfare.

The statement came in response of Australia’s decision to suspend its exports of live cattle to Indonesia after 11 Indonesian slaughterhouses were featured in a television program showing suffering steers being whipped and taking minutes to bleed to death after their throats were cut.

“This is lack of surveillance,” Aspidi executive director Thomas Sembiring said on Tuesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He said the Agriculture Ministry’s directorate general for animal husbandry had issued regulations on animal welfare, including regulating slaughtering methods. But Australia’s complaint showed there has been a flaw in the implementation of the regulations, he added.

”Staffers in slaughterhouses have yet to comply with the procedure when slaughtering animals,” he said.

He also said that this was not the first time that Australia had raised the issue on animal cruelty as it previously requested Egypt to consider animal welfare in the latter’s sheep slaughtering method.

Live cattle exports to Indonesia is a huge business for Australia as it exports more than 500,000 live cows annually.

Indonesia’s beef demand for this year is estimated at 506,000 tons, which will be met with the importation of 600,000 live cows and 72,000 tons of beef. Local production will also contribute to meeting the national demand.