KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Frozen meat and seafood importer, Eurofresh Sdn Bhd, is focused on supplying local fresh meat — particularly from Perak — in a year’s time.

Eurofresh general manager, Mohamad Hisam Mohamad Yusof, said a subsidiary of the Perak Agriculture Development Corporation (PPPNP) is planning to increase local meat production as well as provide a fresh meat receiving and processing centre.

"In terms of marketing, we already have a network of imported meat buyers, but for fresh local meat, we want to ensure there is enough supply first.

"We don’t want to discover midway a shortage in supply; we want supply continuity,” he told reporters today after Perak Plantations, Agriculture and Food Industries Committee chairman, Razman Zakaria, visited the company’s plant in Damansara.

Mohamad Hisam added that the company imports products certified halal by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and has an import permit from the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (Maqis).

"We don’t use a middleman and adhere to the standards set by the authorities,” he said, while adding that their frozen meat comes from Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil and Japan, while the frozen seafood is imported from Chile, Alaska, Korea and China.

On the local meat production, Razman said Perak has over 1,066 cattle farmers, 238 buffalo farmers and 700 goat farmers.

"The local meat industry is very big. In Perak alone, during Hari Raya Haji, over 2,000 animals are required for korban, but local supply is just 30 per cent.

"Hence, the state government wants to get more participation from the B40 group in order to increase supply,” he said. — Bernama