The Potential to Improve Hygiene Standards and Eating Quality of Local Beef in Eastern Indonesia

This paper explores the potential to improve the hygiene standards and eating quality of local beef in Eastern Indonesia for use as a model to develop a Beef Standards Indonesia (BSI) Scheme. An experiment was conducted using beef samples from 6 Bali bulls fed leaves from a forage tree legume (leucaena) and slaughtered in a modern abattoir. The beef food safety status and the eating quality of that beef was compared to beef samples collected from a traditional (backyard) abattoir and imported beef. The effect of wet aging was assessed on beef tenderness, water holding capacity and cooking loss. An economic analysis simulation on a different beef processing scheme was also conducted to assess the feasibility of improving beef hygiene and eating quality standards. Data from 27 abattoirs across Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) province were collected through key informant interviews to determine current business practices regarding the slaughtering capacity, beef classification, beef price, operational costs, and adoption of critical control points (CCPs) that support improved hygiene and better beef quality. The results indicate that the beef from Bali bulls slaughtered in the modern abattoir with an additional aging process had lower bacterial contamination than the samples from cattle slaughtered traditionally. Tenderness levels of the wet aged Bali beef from the modern abattoir were also better than the traditionally slaughtered local beef (shear force of 3.61 ± 0.29 kg/cm 2 compared to shear force of 4.65 ± 0.79 kg/cm 2 respectively) and no different to the imported beef (3.62 ±0.71 kg/cm 2 ). Economic analyses indicate that improvements in hygiene and beef quality standards through adoption of CCPs delivers higher Returns on Investment (54%) and stochastically dominates all other scenarios that were modelled. Slaughtering cattle in a modern abattoir and wet aging of the beef has the potential to enable the local beef to enter higher value local markets. Achieving development of a BSI scheme would require significant improvements in hygienic slaughtering and post-slaughtering facilities in all abattoirs evaluated in NTB. • Critical control points (CCPs) in Indonesian beef processing can improve food safety and eating quality by reducing bacterial contamination. • Beef Standard Indonesia (BSI) model shows strong potential to enhance hygiene standards and beef quality aimed for higher-value markets. • Adopting the BSI system offers both quality and financial advantages over current backyard slaughterhouse practices