April 18, 2006
Malaysia launches plan to tag its cattle
Malaysia has launched a plan to tag its cattle with microchips under an Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry plan, agricultural minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasssin told reporters after chairing a dialogue with agro-industry players on halal food at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday (Apr 18).
The microchip-based ID tags will help identify smuggled animals and prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
The plan would be similar to that practised in Australia, where all cattle were ear-tagged with a microchip containing information on the state and farm where they were reared, he said.
Each state will have a code, and every farm will have its own number, he told reporters, adding that tagging would enable authorities to better monitor the movement of the animals at the border and between states.
Foot-and-mouth disease in local cows is believed to have come from smuggled cattle from Thailand.
Recently, the disease was detected in non-border states, indicating the movement of diseased cattle in the country, Muhyddin said. Fortunately, the disease has been eradicated in those states, he said.
Tagging would make it easier to enforce restrictions on movements of diseased cattle from one state to another should there be another outbreak, he added.