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Surakarta residents warned of unfit cattle for Sacrifice Day
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Unsafe: Cattle being tended at the Putri Cempo landfill facility (TPA) in Surakarta, Central Java. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
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uthorities have said cattle tended at the Putri Cempo landfill facility (TPA) in Surakarta, Central Java, should have been quarantined for at least six months before being sold for the Muslim Day of Sacrifice (Idul Adha) celebration, which falls on Monday.
The cows were unfit for consumption, they said, adding that their bodies contained lead because their diet had been contaminated with garbage.
“From the results of our research, we have found strong indication that the cattle herd at the TPA Putri Cempo are tainted with various heavy metals, including lead,” Surakarta Agriculture Agency head Weni Ekayanti said on Friday.
She said some 800 heads of cattle were tended at the landfill facility, where they daily ate garbage, containing heavy metals that exceeded normal levels.
Weni said her agency had prohibited owners of the cattle to sell their livestock before they were quarantined for at least six months.
Separately, the research results conducted by experts from state-run Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta revealed that the lead level in meat from cows consuming garbage at the Putri Cempo TPA reached 1.4 parts per million (ppm).
“It exceeds the maximum safe level for lead. We found such a high level of lead from cows relatively new to eating waste,” said Pranoto, a researcher from the chemical laboratory at the UNS’ School of Math and Nature Sciences.
He further said the maximum safe level for lead in meat was only 1 ppm. The lead level in meat of longtime waste-consuming cows from Putri Cempo stood at around 14 to 15 ppm. This was why the meat of cattle that grazed at the landfill facility was unsafe for consumption. (ebf)
