KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 17): Teo Seng Capital Bhd's share price fell to an intraday low of 69 sen on Monday (Oct 17), after Singapore recalled eggs from its chicken layer farm in Malaysia due to the presence of Salmonella enteritidis (SE), which may cause food-borne illness if the food is consumed raw or undercooked.

Teo Seng's share price ended the day at 71.5 sen, for a loss of 2.5 sen or 3.38%, giving it a market capitalisation of RM214.51 million.

Trading of the company's securities was halted from 9am to 10am, after it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Saturday that investigation into the contamination was still in progress.

“The company will make further announcements to provide updates on developments of the above matter,” said Teo Seng.

According to the bourse filling, the company will communicate with Malaysia’s Department of Vertinary and Services to investigate and monitor the matter, while maintaining full cooperation to identify the cause and remedial process, before resuming sales of eggs from the farm.

The Teo Seng Layer Farm 1 accounted for approximately 3.5% of the company's total production, and it is unable to determine the amount of revenue affected at the moment.

The Singapore Food Safety Agency (SFA) released a statement last Friday on SE being detected in eggs from the farm. It directed six importers to withhold or recall the eggs with the farm code "CEJ027".

Although SE can be destroyed by heat and cooked eggs are safe to consume, it can survive in raw and undercooked eggs, causing food-borne illnesses such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, a fever, nausea and vomiting.

“While the infection typically subsides within a week in most people, SE can cause serious infection in vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, young children, and those with weakened immune systems,” said the SFA.

This came after Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries announced the lifting of export restrictions on live commercial broilers in phases on Oct 11.

“The decision was made after domestic chicken supplies began to stabilise in the third quarter of the year, with an average surplus of 1.8 million chickens a month,” caretaker Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee had said, according to a Bloomberg report.

Malaysia was able to export 1.8 million live chickens, or 50% of the total restriction limit of 3.5 million birds, with 98% of the live chicken exported to Singapore, according to the ministry.