Malaysia’s domestic chicken supply not affected by bird flu outbreak overseas: Minister

Mr Mohamad’s comments on Wednesday were in response to an Utusan Malaysia report which claimed that the country is expected to face a serious food security issue as the domestic chicken supply is predicted to shrink by 40 per cent in June this year. 

This would be equivalent to a shortage of about 900,000 chickens per day in the domestic market. 

The report stated that the potential shortage is due to the bird flu outbreak in the northern hemisphere. 

The report added that European countries as well as the US have already begun to implement export restrictions on breeder chickens, also known as parent stock, due to the bird flu epidemic. This will then affect the domestic supply of chickens in Malaysia.

Last year, nearly 50 million birds were culled in Europe due to the risks of bird flu. In France alone, which is the European Union’s second-largest poultry producer, 22 million birds were culled.