June 19, 2007

Malaysian hog farmers vow to only use legal substances

Pig farmers in Malaysia have pledged allegiance against the use of beta agonist and other illegal growth promoters on their livestock. 

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Mah Siew Keong, who held a meeting with members of the Federation of Livestock Farmers Malaysia on Monday, said a total of 654 farmers had signed the pledge.

Aside from beta agonist, other banned substances such as nitorufan and chloramphenicol have been included in the list of prohibited substances.

In February, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said using beta agonist for pork production is illegal under the Customs Prohibited Order.

Mah said the Ministry would mete out sentences to those who will be caught using banned substances in their livestock production.

He said the response from the pig farmers had been encouraging with no new cases of beta agonist detected in pork at the abattoirs.

The Federation's Pig Unit chairman Jeffrey Beh Kim Hee, said only several small farmers have not signed the pledge.

The association members, who are mainly from Penang, Perak, Malacca, Johor and Selangor, supplied about 7,000 pigs per day to abattoirs nationwide.