Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY

Authorities urged to crack down on usage of banned drugs to breed pigs

Source: The Star

Date: 27 October 2006

MALACCA: A pig farmer has urged the veterinary services and the Federation of Livestock Farmers Associations of Malaysia (FLFAM) - to act fast in a bid to check the abuse of beta agonist.

Beta agonist is a banned drug used by farmers to produce pigs within a shorter period. The meat will also be lean.

Lim Oh Pah, 51, vice chairman of the pig unit under the Malacca branch of FLFAM, said enforcers should act fast - after the issue was highlighted in the media - so that they could still trace live pigs fed with the banned drug.

He also urged the FLFAM to ensure quality of the pork at their emergency meeting held by the pig unit at the FLFAM on Friday.

Lim said he did this to safeguard the interests of the pig farming industry for the long term despite facing the risk of being criticised by others in the industry.

“I urge all pig farmers to stop using it for their shorter gains.

“If all consumers decide not to consume pork because of beta-agonist, that is the end of the pig farming industry,” he said.

At least 16 pig farms in the state were using this banned drug, he said, adding that there are about 91 pig farms located in Kuala Sungai Baru and Paya Mengkuang at the moment.

It was reported that at least 70% of locally-bred pigs were still fed with beta-agonist - a banned drug which acts as a growth enhancer - by many pig farms in the northern and central states.

He also urged consumers not just to opt for lean meat.

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject:

More on this issue..

Pork war hots up over banned growth drug
Source: NST

27 Oct 2006

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JOHOR BARU: A "pork war" is brewing.

The Malaysian Pork Sellers’ Association (MPSA) and the Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Association of Malaysia (FLFAM) are pointing fingers at each other over the use of beta-agonist, a banned growth enhancer, on pigs.

MPSA chairman Goh Chui Lai has called on its 5,000 members to lodge police reports against pig farmers should investigation by the Veterinary Services Department reveal the presence of the substance in pork.

Since the ban in 1996, pork sellers had been treated as the scapegoat for farmers who used beta-agonist, a drug listed under the Poisons Schedule, said Goh.

"The government is punishing the wrong people. We buy pork from the farmers who are the ones who feed the animals. But why are we being punished when we are just selling the meat," he said.

Goh said the department should track down the source of the problem instead of just imposing fines on the sellers. At least 20 pork sellers nationwide have been fined RM2,000 for selling pork tested with beta-agonist in the last two years. No farmer has yet faced any legal action.

In May, the Consumers’ Association of Penang advised consumers to refrain from eating pork as half of the samples tested in Penang showed they were tainted with salbutamol, a type of beta-agonist.

On Wednesday, MCA Traditional Agriculture bureau chief Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng said 70 per cent of the pigs bred in Selangor were tested positive for the banned drug.

His statements were immediately refuted by the FLFAM, which claimed that most of the farmers were using a substitute drug, Paylean, since beta-agonist was banned.

FLFAM represents over 600 pig slaughterhouses nationwide. Its secretary Sim Ah Hock said no farmer had been charged for using beta-agonist over the past two years ago.

"The Veterinary Services Department checks on pig farms and if farmers are found using beta-agonist, action should have been taken against them already," he said, adding that the farmers were innocent.

Asked why the pork in the market were tainted if no farmer was using the banned drug, Sim said it could have come from illegal pig farms.

"Pork sellers should check their source of supply and stop blaming the farmers," he said.

Beta-agonist will speed up the growth of pigs and enhance the animals’ lean meat.

Pigs fed with the substance could mature 20 days earlier and produce an additional 4kg of lean meat.

Consumers who eat pork tainted with the substance could suffer from headaches, dizziness, palpitations and breathing difficulties. The substance may be fatal for sufferers of asthma and heart disease.

Beta-agonist is a bronchodilator medicine which doctors use to dilate airways to help relieve the symptoms of shortness of breath in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject:

Similar News from Dialy Express

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Only one Sabah pig farm using banned drug

Kota Kinabalu: Only one pig farm was found using the banned growth enhancement drug Beta-Agonist by the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry (Dovsai) in Sabah since last year.

Dovsai Director Datuk Haji Awang Sahak Salleh said the operator of this small farm in Sandakan had stopped using the drug after a reminder by the department.

This was proven in follow-up action, including blood and urine samples of the breeding pigs, taken by the department to ensure the farm was in the clear.

"That was the only one case detected by us in Sabah since last year. As far as the department is concerned, we have not detected anymore pig farms especially the commercial ones using the drug," he said.

Nevertheless, he said, the department will continue to monitor the situation in Sabah and conduct regular random checks on the 96 pig farms that are mostly in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan.

Awang Sahak was asked to comment on the use of Beta-Agonist, which not only makes pork leaner but also shortens the breeding period by nearly a month, in pig farms particularly in the peninsula.

The Malaysian Pork Sellers Association, which claims to represent 3,000 pork sellers nationwide, had urged the authorities to stop what they called unfair treatment against its members over the use of the drug in pig breeding.

Its Chairman Goh Chui Lai had said that over the past three years about 20 of its members had been unfairly penalised following the detection of residues of Beta-Agonist in the meat they were selling.

Goh also said that the Veterinary Department should conduct more checks on pig farms nationwide, claiming many breeders up north were still using the drug. Beta-Agonist had been banned since 1990 by Singapore and later by Malaysia.

Awang Sahak said Beta-Agonist is also banned in Sabah.

"The department is actually already taking a proactive measure in ensuring the pig industry in Sabah remains free from the use of this illegal growth enhancement drug ... majority of the farms especially those commercial ones in Sabah are free from Beta-Agonist," he said.

"We are aware of our responsibility, we will continuously conduct surveillance and randomly take samples from all the pig farms in Sabah to ensure there is no more use of the banned drug in the State," he added. He also said there had been no case of breeding pigs banned from abattoirs because of the drug.

"In Sabah there are eight private pig abattoirs which are slaughtering altogether an average of about 400 pigs daily, mostly in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau," said Awang Sahak.

These include the abattoir belonging to the department in Inanam whose operation has now been privatised. This abattoir slaughters an average of 200 to 300 pigs per day.

"We now have a good slaughtering facility, a modern abattoir that enables us to inspect the meat to ensure it is free from any infectious diseases and banned drugs.

"Besides that, we are also continuously monitoring and conducting checks to ensure that Beta-Agonist is not used by the farmers to fatten their pigs."

Awang Sahak said Sabah's supply is self-sufficient and there is no need to import pork or its value-added products.

Sabah, which has remained free from any infectious livestock-related diseases like the Nipah virus, has been exporting some of its pork to the peninsula since June 1 this year.