KUALA KANGSAR, July 4 — Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Deputy Minister Sim Tze Tzin today said that the country will stop exporting pork meats and products in order to meet the local demand.
Sim said this is because the country have stopped importing pork meat and products from the Asian suppliers, following the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak.
“We have banned all pork products and pork processed products from all outbreak countries such as China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia and now Laos.
“Last night, we can still export, but starting from today we can’t,” he told a press conference after attending the Duriotourism programme at a Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) centre here.
“At the moment, the self-sufficiency level (SSL) in the country for pork products is at 93 per cent and we have about 40 per cent people from the country’s population who consume pork,” he added.
Sim said the 93 per cent SSL is still considered as sustainable for pork consumption in the country.
“The balance seven per cent we import. However, this pork products which are imported are only from Europe, such as the sausages and canned meat,” he added.
Sim also said that the authorities has increased the biosecurity at all pig farms, borders and entry points in order to avoid the disease from entering into the country.
“We hope the outbreak will not reach Malaysia. If the country is affected, we have to spend a lot of money to cull the pigs, veterinarians will be deployed to solve the problem and [there will be] compensation to a lot of people,” he said.
He also urges all pig farmers in the country to adopt the modern pig farming system to produce good quality and healthy pigs.
The ASF, which is incurable in pigs, but harmless to humans, has spread rapidly across China since last August and also gradually spread to several Asian countries.
