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f some 1.2 tons of beef sold in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, half has allegedly been saturated with water, a practice known locally as glonggongan, according to the chairman of a local meat traders association.

'€œ[The sale of] water-logged meat is rampant. It accounts for up to 50 percent of the total meat on the market,'€ Bantul Beef Traders Association chairman Ilham Ahmadi said recently.

Such meat is usually produced by pumping water into the cow until its stomach and intestines burst. To allow the water to be better absorbed into the meat, thus increasing its mass, the cow is usually not slaughtered right away.

Slaughter is delayed until the animal is at the point of death.

'€œThis kind of meat is not suitable for human consumption because the e-coli bacteria content is very high. The practice also deceives customers,'€ Ilham said.

A beef trader, Jandi Jangiaarto, said that in Banguntapan district alone, four to five cows were pumped full of water before being slaughtered daily.

With a cow yielding some 100 kilograms of water-logged beef, this means between 400 and 500 kilograms of such meat are produced daily in that particular district.

'€œThat doesn'€™t count those traders who receive water-logged meat from the [neighboring] Central Java slaughter houses,'€ Jandi said.

He blamed the local administration for allowing such conditions to occur because the practice was considered useful to stabilize meat prices.

Normal beef is priced at Rp 90,000 (US$8.7) per kilogram but water-logged beef sells for only Rp 70,000 per kg.

Consumers, who buy such beef, however, only get some 60 percent meat as the rest is water. '€œThis is effectively cheating. Consumers are in fact paying more for the meat,'€ Jandi said.

Bantul Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Agency head Sulistyanto denied water-logged beef was sold within his jurisdiction. '€œI guarantee there is no water-logged beef sold here. We conduct market raids and monitoring daily,'€
Sulistyanto said.