New monitoring system

STEPS are being taken at various levels to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – from checking drug sales to creating a system to monitor antibiotic levels in food animals.

A new system will be developed by the Veterinary Services Department (DVS) to check the levels of antibiotics in poultry and livestock to ensure it is safe for human consumption.

“The DVS will monitor the usage of antibiotics in animals,” says its director-general Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam.

Echoing this, Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Associations of Malaysia president Datuk Jeffrey Ng Choon Ngee says there are plans to collect data under the proposed system from farms nationwide.

“The system will check whether the amount of antibiotic residue in food animals complies with proper standards,” he says.

However, Ng assures that there is minimal antibiotic usage in the local meat industry, adhering to World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards.

Growth antibiotics, he says, are rarely used in food animals like chickens in Malaysia.

“Under the Feed Act, if we were to add growth antibiotics into the animal feed, we will need to declare it.

“But most feed in the Malaysian market are not added with such components,” he adds.

More often though, the type of antibiotics used are to treat sick food animals.

However, such antibiotics will be removed naturally by the animal’s body within a “withdrawal period”.

“Such periods can vary according to the number of days required. It depends on the antibiotics used.

“Farmers must comply with the withdrawal period or else, there will be a high level of residue left in the meat,” Ng says, adding that this will be checked by the proposed new system.

On the medical front, the Health Ministry is continuously carrying out enforcement to curb any illegal sales of antibiotics.

Ministry Medical Development Division Infection Control Unit head Dr Suraya Amir Husin says the sale and usage of antibiotics are controlled under the Poisons Act 1952.

“Such drugs may only be supplied by licensed practitioners, veterinarians and pharmacists, with valid prescriptions.

“The online sale of antibiotics is prohibited under the same Act,” she explains.

To avoid overprescriptions, the ministry also monitors the use of antibiotics through annual checks at government hospitals,