Mixed Meat Is Prevalent Prior to Eid El Fitr, Control of Halal Meat Is Necessary

Prior to Eid El Fitr (Lebaran), the demand of either beef or poultry meat usually increases. The increasing cases of pork-mixed beef sale make muslims people worried.

The number of pork-mixed beef was very fantastic. It reached 6 tons per week. It was detrimental for people who were not able to differentiate between beef and pork. The prize of pork is between thirty thousand and thirty-five thousand rupiahs per kilogram (Rp 20.000 – 30.000/kg), while the first quality of beef can reach one hundred and twenty thousand per kilogram (Rp 120.000/kg)

“We, as Moslem need to investigate it scientifically. It is aimed to identify non-halal components of food product especially meat”, said Dra. Any Guntari, M.Si Apt, a lecturer of   Pharmacy Faculty at University of Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) in her office on Tuesday (7/6/2016).

Non-halal food usually comes from the fat or oil. Some researches were conducted to identify the vegetable oil containing non-halal oil. Food like cake, ice cream, and chocolate usually contain elements of non-halal fat or oil.  Processed food, meatball is usually made of mixture of pork and beef. It is usually done to get big profit.

The difficulty in identifying the non-halal elements in food makes muslim people worried especially about the already processed foods.

Any said that the problem was not about the prize. For Moslem, it was forbidden to consume non-halal food. Moreover, the problem is also about the quality of meat whether it had passed the examination of the authority or not.

“Both consumers and merchants need to be given the information about the differences between beef and wild boar meat or pork.” Any said.

Moreover, Any explained the differences between beef and pork were that pork had pale color. The beef texture looked solid and the texture stripes looked clear. While pork texture was not solid, subtler, and easily separated. Pork fat had elastic texture and easily stretched, while beef had rigid and shaped texture. The aroma of pork was rancid, while beef had a distinctive aroma.