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Formalized Chicken Intestine Crime Caught in Jakarta
Jakarta - As many as 650 kilograms of formalized chicken intestine ready for sale were confiscated by officers of West Jakarta Metropolitan Resort Police on Thursday (25/11). Two hundred kilograms have been sent to Tambora market in West Jakarta to be sold.
Police arrested LTF, owner of the business, when delivering the product on Duri Raya Utara Street in Tambora subdistrict, West Jakarta, around 3 am. The 200 kilograms of formalized chicken intestine were transported using a pickup truck and were to be sold to chicken porridge and intestine sate vendors.
From that operation, the police found another 350 kilograms of formalized chicken intestine and 100 kilograms of chicken intestine being mixed with formalin in the offender’s house in Bambu Apus village, RT 01 RW 04, Pamulang subdistrict, South Tangerang. The police also confiscated one plastic container containing 3 liters of formalin.
Vice Chief of West Jakarta Metropolitan Resort Police, Police Great Commissioner Adjutant Aan Suhanan, yesterday said the formalized chicken intestine practice has been going on for 3 years. “In a day, the offender could sell up to 500 kilograms of formalized chicken intestine at Rp 7,500 per kilogram,” he said.
LTF obtained the intestine from a chicken slaughterhouse for Rp 3,000 per kilogram. His profit could reach up to Rp 2,250,000 per day.
From the offender’s confession, it was revealed that after he collected chicken intestines from the slaughterhouse, it was cleaned and boiled. Afterwards, the intestines were put in into a formalin solution for 24 hours.
After formalized, the intestines are then put into plastic bags and stored in a cooler. The next day, the formalized chicken intestines are ready for sale.
Currently the police are investigating 12 employees. “They act as mixers, processors, drivers, and driver assistants,” said Aan.
Testing confirmed the formalin content in the chicken intestines, but the concentration has not been precisely measured. Investigator of the Health Ministry, Sarlan, said that during semiquantitative laboratory testing using a color scale, the intestines were confirmed to contain formalin. “Colors on the test papers were purple and black. The higher the formalin concentration, the blacker the color,” said Sarlan.
No flies
He added, visually, formalized chicken intestines do not attract flies. “Physical characteristics could be clearly seen. Flies avoid it because it could die. The texture is more firm, like jelly. The color is also pale, not fresh, and has less odor,” he said.
Formalin, which is commonly used to preserve cadavers, could cause cancer; it is a carcinogen. If mixed with food, it dissolves and is hard to break down because of its binding properties. Other effects of formalin are kidney failure, liver failure, and pancreas failure.
Sarlan said formalin distribution has been closely monitored, but there are still people who can acquire it, mix it into food ingredients, and endanger the health of people consuming it.
In the last few years, there were a lot of findings on formalized food in DKI Jakarta. Formalized meatballs, tofu, chicken, until squid are still found in a number of operations conducted by the authorities.
Aan said that offenders are prosecuted with Article 55 verse 1 of Act No. 7 Year 1996 on Food. LTF is facing a maximum of 5 years in jail or Rp 600 million in fine. (fro)
Source : Kompas