Jakarta, Feb. 6 -- Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Food has decided to assign relevant state-owned enterprises (SOEs) the task of importing 100 thousand tons of beef and 100 thousand tons of buffalo meat.

Meanwhile, private companies have been allocated a quota to import a total of 80 thousand tons of beef, Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan noted in his office's statement cited here on Thursday.

He explained that the decision to mobilize SOEs to import meat aims to facilitate the government in curbing the entry and spread of foot-and-mouth diseases, which could be driven by the ongoing rainy season.

"By delegating the import tasks to SOEs, we seek to anticipate the potential spread of food and mouth diseases. This app...