T

he city administration has committed to intensifying poultry quality control by campaigning for a safe, healthy, wholesome and halal (ASUH) concept on slaughtering chickens, as well as distribution and consumption.

The efforts are necessary to ensure chickens that enter the city do not carry transmittable diseases that can spread to Jakartans.

Every day, more than 1 million chickens are transported into the city from Java and Lampung to be slaughtered and sold.

Through the campaign, the city wants to encourage poultry businesspeople and consumers to be more careful in slaughtering and buying chicken, to ensure the safety and health of both the animal and humans.

“There are more than a thousand slaughterhouses throughout the city, but only eight are under city-owned enterprises or the city administration,” the head of animal farming at the marine, agriculture and food security agency Sri Hartati told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an event in Taman Menteng, Central Jakarta, to commemorate World Food Day that falls on Oct. 16.

“Since 2009, we’ve been working to gradually persuade slaughterhouse owners that carry out their business in residential areas to move to centralized slaughterhouses [under the city administration]. It is aimed at preventing avian related diseases being transmitted to humans,” she said.

The city’s Bylaw No. 4/2007 on poultry distribution and farming stipulates that the city has the right to close and confiscate poultry from slaughterhouses that refuse to be relocated. However, Sri said the city had never taken such measures.

She said the goal was not only to ensure that chickens were slaughtered according to best practices to reduce the possibility of transmitting dangerous pathogens and food-borne illnesses from poultry to consumers, but also keep the people’s economy moving.

There are eight poultry slaughterhouses throughout the city that have undergone restructure and are operated by either the city administration or city-owned slaughterhouse PD Dharma Jaya — with a capacity of slaughtering 245,000 poultry per day.

They are Rawa Kepiting, Pulo Gadung, Rawa Terate and Cakung slaughterhouses in East Jakarta, South Petukangan and Pasar Minggu slaughterhouses in South Jakarta, Rawa Lele slaughterhouse in West Jakarta and Rorotan slaughterhouse in North Jakarta.

There are more home-based poultry slaughterhouses in Cempaka Putih and Johar Baru, Central Jakarta, and in Matraman, East Jakarta, which are relocating. The ones in Central Jakarta will be relocated to Pulo Gadung, while the one in Matraman will be moved to Rawa Terate.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the city would work better if the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) supported the ASUH campaign. He said the PKK, whose members were mostly women, had the power to control the younger generation’s health through food.

“In 2019, we will synchronize everything related to public health [from the city’s health agency and women’s empowerment and child protection agency] with the PKK,” Anies told the press.

He called on mothers and wives throughout the city to be more careful and keep the ASUH concept in mind when choosing chicken for consumption. ASUH chicken is a bright white-reddish color, the meat’s surface is moist but not sticky, and the breast and the thigh is chewy but not smelly.

They should also, Anies added, make sure family members implement a clean and healthy lifestyle so as to avoid contracting avian influenza.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded that in the last 11 years, there were 200 cases of avian influenza outbreaks in the country, which caused 168 fatalities – most of which were in Greater Jakarta.

Echoing Anies, the Agriculture Ministry’s director of veterinary public health Syamsul Maarif revealed that such a virus is 60 to 70 percent of the time found in markets.

“The government is urging retailers and modern markets to buy only poultry products from certified slaughterhouses. These markets are encouraged to support our ASUH campaign,” he said.