Lay Hong to get to the bottom of Salmonella contamination

EGG and poultry producer Lay Hong Bhd has offered full cooperation and compliance with the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) in Malaysia by formulating plans to strengthen farm control practices and monitoring following the detection of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in its eggs exported from one of its farm in Jeram.

The group agreed with DVS to suspend its Jeram 1 farm, of which the farm’s production is primarily exported to Singapore. The Jeram 1 farm is currently suspended from both the domestic and export market pending the completion of investigation by DVS.

“Our priority is the safety of our customers,” commented Lay Hong’s executive director Datuk Yap Chor How.

“We are currently working closely with the DVS to investigate and monitor the alleged farm related to the Salmonella detection.”

Lay Hong further assured consumers that no eggs will be sold from its Jeram 1 farm and that the group will only resume the supply of eggs from Jeram 1 farm once the investigation is completed.

At the moment, all its other farms in Jeram (Jeram 2-6) have been tested negative for Salmonella. All these farms are divided into smaller satellite farms and are separated from one another physically despite being located in Jeram.

“Each of these satellite farms has its functioning feeding and grading equipment to mitigate cross-contamination between farms,” Yap pointed out.

“All of these mitigating factors have been in place for years to ensure our supply of eggs is not entirely disrupted if one of our farms is affected by contamination.

“This preparation has enabled us to continue to supply our eggs from other farms responsibly to our customers.”

Yap added Lay Hong will strengthen its farming process and is confident that it can overcome this incident with stronger controls and monitoring in the future. – March 14, 2021

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