T

he South Jakarta Maritime and Agriculture Agency says that vendors in three districts have been selling pork bakso (meatballs) that they thought were made of beef.

Agung Priambodo, the agency head, said on Thursday that officials discovered that the vendors, located in Cilandak, Kebayoran Baru and Kebayoran Lama, had bought ground pork from a slaughterhouse in Cipete to make their bakso.

“The vendors were apparently lured by the cheap price of the meat. Pork costs only at Rp 40,000 [US$4.15] to Rp 45,000 per kilogram, while beef can cost Rp 90,000 to Rp 100,000,” Agung said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

Beef prices have soared in recent weeks following implementation of a government quota limiting imports to protect local producers. Apparently, some unscrupulous people have attempted to take advantage of high demand by packaging pork, which is haram, or forbidden, for Muslims to eat, with beef.

At a press conference with representative of the police and the Indonesian Meat Traders Association(ASDI), Agung alleged that the slaughterhouse, located in the Cipete traditional market in South Jakarta, has been running the scam for two years.

The employees of the slaughterhouse claim that they were deceived by their supplier, who had smeared cow blood to disguise the pork.