TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Food safety is still a serious problem in this country. After the recent fuss over plastic rice, we now face a new revelation: many companies using feedlots to fatten their cattle have been adding salbutamol to the feedlot.

This is unacceptable. Salbutamol is a drug for asthmatics. It is a beta2-agonist effective in rapidly opening up breathing passages. In animals, salbutamol can reduce fat and promote rapid muscle growth. In just a month, a cow's weight can increase by up to 15 percent.

But cows are not human beings. For us, unregulated consumption of salbutamol can have serious consequences such as muscle cramps, vision problems, irregular heartbeat, pregnancy complications and even death.

It has long been suspected that national feedlots have been using salbutamol. In November 2011, the director-general of livestock and animal health at the Agriculture Ministry issued a circular banning the use of beta2-agonist in animals. Among the types banned were salbutamol and clenbuterol.

The problem is that the regulation was not properly enforced. The relevant institutions ignored it. It was only after four years, this March, that the Health Ministry carried out tests on animal feedlots that had been used by feedlot companies.

Strangely, the Drug and Food Monitoring Board (BPOM) says it has never found beef contaminated with salbutamol in markets, despite the Health Ministry's tests on random samples of liver and meat, confirming the presence of residue from this dangerous drug. These findings were reported to the BPOM, but were ignored. Besides being incompetent, this government institution tasked with oversight, did not seem to care.

Not surprisingly, we continue to hear about cases of food quality and safety problems. The government should take rapid action. The ministries of Agriculture, Trade and the BPOM should immediately withdraw beef contaminated with dangerous drugs from the market. There must be thorough inspections of beef from problem feedlots.

This oversight is extremely urgent because the domestic demand for beef remains high. In the first half of the year, around 350,000 imported cattle went to feedlots, equivalent to 12 percent of annual domestic demand. Some of the cattle are now waiting to enter slaughterhouses to meet demand in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi for the upcoming Lebaran holiday.

The government should improve the food and animal feed oversight system. Cattle companies should know that beta2-agonist is banned for animals. Therefore, whoever breaks this rule must be penalized. The health minister needs to monitor the distribution of dangerous drugs so they are not abused. These three institutions must be more proactive in looking for signs of abuse at cattle feedlots.

These shameful deeds could erode global trust in the quality of our food. We should learn from China. After melanin was found in milk formula in 2008, many nations banned imports. As a result, that nation's domestic milk formula industry lost billions of dollars. We do not want this to happen in our country. (*)