Govt proposes tech solutions to cattle slaughter issues

The Agriculture Ministry has proposed various technological solutions to improve treatment of cattle at slaughterhouses, including equipment to restrain animals to reduce the risk of suffering, an official says.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said the proposal was in line with requests from the Australian government to improve procedures and facilities at Indonesian slaughterhouses.

“We will try to make changes according to the demand [from the Australian government],” Suswono said on the weekend as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He added that the Indonesian government would welcome any move by Australian authorities to reopen its live cattle export to Indonesia once the improvements were in place.

“A joint team from both government is still working [on a new standard for slaughterhouses],” Suswono said.

The issue was initially brought into the spotlight by Australian broadcaster ABC TV in a disturbing documentary revealing Australian cattle being badly mistreated at Indonesian slaughterhouses. The program caused a wave of protests from the Australian public and led the Australian government to suspend its export of live cattle to Indonesia for six months as of June 8.

Each year, Australia exports more than 500,000 live cattle to Indonesia, worth around A$320 million (Rp 2.94 trillion), and representing 43 percent of Australia's cattle exports worldwide.