Govt' Starts Sampling for Smuggled Boar Meat
7 July 2014 16:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Trade will start taking samples of meat in 15 different markets in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. "We have taken 3 meat samples, which consist of meat chunks, mincemeat, and meatballs. We will take it to the lab in the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to be tested on Monday, July 7, 2014" said Director General of Standardization and Consumer Protection Widodo, on Sunday, July 6, 2014.
He said that the tests are necessary to make sure whether the meat samples retrieved from the markets are boar meat, beef, or a mix of the two. "We will test the DNA. We will be able to report the results within five to seven days," said Widodo.
The Agriculture Quarantine Agency recently captured a smuggler trying to smuggle 4.5 tons of boar meat from Palembang in Merak Harbor on Saturday, July 5, 2014. The boar meat were found in many small plastic bags inside big white sacks placed in trucks and public buses.
Spokesperson for the Second Class Agriculture Quarantine Mochamad Arief, said that there have been 17 cases of boar meat smuggling from Sumatera. "We have stopped 17 smuggling attempts totaling to 35.341 kilograms of boar meat confiscated and ready to be disposed of," said Arief on Sunday, July 6, 2014.
RIDHO JUN PRASETYO