KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said two Malaysian poultry farms, each operated by Meng Kee Poultry (M) Sdn Bhd and Sdian Hup Farming Sdn Bhd, have been suspended for export of live chicken broilers into Singapore with immediate effect Monday (Oct 31) due to "isolation of Salmonella enteritidis in samples collected from their imported consignment".
According to the SFA's statement on Monday, Meng Kee Poultry's farm code is MYCHJ408 while Sdian Hup Farming's farm code is MYCHJ190.
The suspensions come less than a month after Malaysia lifted the export ban on live chicken broilers to Singapore on Oct 11. The Malaysian government had earlier banned the export of up to 3.6 million chickens from June 1 amid chicken supply and pricing issues in the country.
Singapore reportedly imports about 34% of its chicken supply from Malaysia, almost all of which is brought in as live chickens that are then slaughtered and chilled locally.
Both Mee Kee Poultry and Sdian Hup Farming are based in Johor; Mee Kee Poultry operates in Yong Peng, and Sdian Hup Farming in Pontian.
Mee Kee Poultry is a poultry farming arm of Kee Song Bio-Technology Holdings Ltd, a company listed on the Taiwan stock exchange since 2011, according to the company's website.
Established in 1987, Kee Song and its subsidiaries have been supplying fresh and frozen chicken products to food and beverage businesses in Singapore.
“In 1992, we are the first poultry company in Singapore to start a poultry farming business and had since [introduced] top-of-the-range farming technology in rearing our chickens.
“A leading poultry producer in Singapore and Malaysia today, Kee Song group owns several farms to meet the increasing demands of our clients around the region. Besides rearing chickens, we also handle the processing, packaging and distribution of fresh chilled and frozen poultry,” it said on its website.
A list published by Singapore Food Agency in respect of chicken farms approved to export live broilers to Singapore showed that Meng Kee Poultry and Prestige Fortune Sdn Bhd are exporters of live chicken broilers on behalf of Sdian Hup Farming.
Prestige Fortune's website showed that the company originated from Singapore in the 1970s.
"In 1990, it was officially registered as a private limited company (Sdn Bhd) in Malaysia," it said.
In a statement to The Edge, Prestige Fortune official Irene Jocelyn clarified that the company had not been suspended for export of live chicken broilers into Singapore.
"I would like to make a clear clarification that we are not [one of] the companies which have been suspended," Irene said.