KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — The United States poultry industry expects expanded access to the Malaysian market under the Malaysia-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), but says not all American producers may be able to meet Malaysia’s halal requirements.
In an email response to CodeBlue, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) said the trade pact removes several long-standing trade barriers, including Malaysia’s blanket import ban on poultry during outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
USAPEEC is a non-profit industry council that promotes US poultry and egg exports and represents producers in global trade policy issues.
Under ART, Malaysia will replace its nationwide HPAI ban with a regionalisation system – recognising state-level zones immediately upon entry into force, and shifting to county-level zones 180 days later.
“We are pleased to see an improvement in several aspects that have hindered our trade historically with Malaysia,” USAPEEC told CodeBlue, noting that Malaysia will also drop its facility approval process and instead accept poultry from all establishments listed in the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Meat, Poultry and Egg Products Inspection (MPI) directory.
However, the industry group said compliance with Malaysia’s halal standards may limit which US facilities are able to export to Malaysia. Under ART, Malaysia must accept halal certification issued by any US halal certifier designated by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) as meeting Malaysian halal requirements, “without additional requirements”.
“There is still a question of how much of our industry will be able to meet the halal requirements by Malaysia that will be verified by the approved certifiers,” USAPEEC said. “We are hopeful that by eliminating other barriers that producers will wish to work with the approved certifiers to explore meeting the halal standards of Malaysia.”
USAPEEC said the FSIS MPI directory includes only facilities under continuous federal inspection. “FSIS inspectors are present during operations and will physically observe every bird that comes in and every product that goes out of a facility,” it said. Inspectors also “take daily samples to ensure product from a facility is meeting the USDA microbial standards”.
“Every product that comes out will have a FSIS mark of inspection that verifies the wholesomeness of a product. That mark of inspection is the same for products being exported and consumed domestically,” the council said.
A separate USDA agency, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), oversees animal health on farms, including HPAI surveillance. “APHIS oversees that every commercial chicken flock in the US undergoes testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) before leaving the farm for processing,” USAPEEC said.
Chlorine-Washed Chicken ‘Less Than 5%’ Of US Production
Addressing long-standing concerns about chlorine-washed chicken, USAPEEC said the practice is now uncommon. “Chlorine-washed chicken simply means that chicken was rinsed with chlorinated water,” it said, adding that extensive research has found the process to be safe.
“Although it has been proven safe, most chicken processing plants in the US have moved away from the use of chlorine as a food safety application during the production process. Today, it is estimated that less than 5 per cent of processing plants in the US are using chlorine in some rinses and sprays,” the group said.
It added that most producers now use peracetic acid (PAA), which it described as “an organic compound of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide”.
USAPEEC’s comments follow similar endorsements from other US agriculture organisations. The US Meat Export Federation told CodeBlue that ART could unlock US$50 million to US$60 million in annual US beef exports to Malaysia, while the US Dairy Export Council said the agreement will place US dairy on equal footing with Australia and New Zealand, Malaysia’s dominant suppliers.
Malaysian authorities have not issued public statements on how the new commitments will be implemented across poultry, meat and dairy imports.
A veterinary expert and government MP have cautioned that Malaysia may lack sufficient disease-surveillance and border-inspection capacity to enforce the ART’s shift from nationwide import bans to zone-based controls.
