MP questions NFC beef safety following poisoning case

An opposition MP has questioned the safety of National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFC) beef supply following tests last year that reported six of its cattle had died of copper poisoning.

"The minister must confirm if all meat produced by NFC is free from copper toxicity and if the ministry has stringent inspections following the discovery of copper poisoning (in NFC beef) last year," said PJ Utara MP Tony Pua.

At a press conference at Parliament House today, Pua (left) cited Veterinary Services Department tests on carcasses of six NFC cattle found dead last year from copper poisoning.

Pua related that the tests found copper contents in the liver and kidney of the dead cattle to be about five times higher than the allowed limit.

The veterinary report blamed the copper contents as exceeding normal range due to “excessive prolonged feeding of high copper content feed such as palm kernel cake”, used in feedlots to fatten up cattle.

The matter, he said, must be explained as “not only are taxpayers’ monies are involved, but the health of Malaysians is also at stake”.

The NFC is already mired in controversy after last year’s Auditor-General’s audit report which pinpointed irregularities in the operations and financial management of the publicly-funded feedlot project.

The firm owned and operated by family members of former federal minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil became the poster child of opposition Pakatan Rakyat’s constant exposes of alleged misappropriations of a RM250 million government soft loan, and was the target of an MACC and police Commercial Crimes Investigation Department investigation.

NFC chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who is Shahrizat’s husband, has been charged with two counts of criminal breach of trust and two more counts of breaching the Companies Act, as a result of the fiasco.