Indonesia-Meat Inspection concerns.

Veterinarians have demanded a more active role in the country’s meat and meat by-product importing procedures, to prevent dangerous farm products from making their way to people’s plates.

"Currently, we do not have enough power to decide whether a farm product is fit to enter the country," Indonesian Veterinary Medical Association chairwoman Wiwiek Bagja told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an European Commission-organized seminar on food safety and export regulations in Jakarta on Monday.

She warned that authorities involved in importing farm products, such as the Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry, might be allowing in meat and meat by-products carrying hefty risks such as foot-and-mouth disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.

Greater involvement by veterinarians was thus necessary, she said.

"However, veterinarians are often seen as a nuisance, trying to hinder imports or profits."

Suhadji, head of the Indonesian Veterinary Association and a former director general of livestock at the Agriculture Ministry, said the role of veterinarians in the import of meat was stipulated in a new bill on farming and livestock.

The bill, which is meant to complement a ministerial regulation on livestock and the 1994 law on the establishment of the World Trade Organization, is still under deliberation at the House of Representatives.

"The new bill is supposed to give veterinarians more authority in the matter of farm product imports," Suhadji said.

Fadjar Sumping Tjatur Rasaoth, director general of livestock services at the Agriculture Ministry, said there had been disputes delaying the formulation of the new bill.

"For instance, both veterinarians and livestock experts forwarded their own versions of the bill," he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is opening its doors wider to risky farm products, said Robi Agustiar, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Society of Animal Science.

"The country risks spreading mad cow disease by importing risky farm products such as cow’s brains, spinal chords and intestines from the United States and Canada," he warned.

He added it was much cheaper to import those meat by-products than to use local ones.

"Thus, not only they are exposing people to mad cow disease risk, but also putting local farmers at a disadvantage," he said.

Indonesians often use bovine body parts such as intestines or brains in their meals.

Those body parts, as well as skulls, are categorized as specified risk materials and must be removed from bovines during the process of slaughtering, cutting and butchering, the seminar heard.

Wiwiek said that besides importing those dangerous body parts, authorities are also risking Indonesia’s reputation as the only country in Southeast Asia free of foot-and-mouth disease for a hundred years by importing meat from Brazil.

"Some regions in Brazil have been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease, but not all," she explained.

"There’s always a chance that infected products will find their way to Indonesia."

Indonesian Association of Meat Traders (APDI) chairman M. Nurdin R., however, played down such concerns.

"Indonesians are accustomed to cook their meat before eating it, unlike Westerners who like eating it rare, thus the cooking process will minimize the possibility of disease transfer," he said.

He added he saw no serious danger from importing meat and its by-products from Brazil.

"There’s not much chance that meat from one or two regions declared susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease will find its way here, especially when those regions hardly have enough meat supply for themselves."

However, Nurdin underlined the need for more solid regulations to ensure better flow of the meat trade.

"If the government enacts proper regulation, then businesspeople will know exactly what to do, thus increasing their productivity."