According to Bernama.com, the deputy prime minister said currently the country only exported about seven per cent of the 1.5 million broiler chickens produced by factories and breeding centres a day.

"Hence I call on broiler chicken processing companies to increase output for the world market and overall because we know the level of sufficiency of broiler chickens in Malaysia today is 128 per cent.

"This contributes 75 per cent of the total market worth RM10 billion from the national livestock industry," he said at the opening of Al-Barakah Food Industries Sdn Bhd's hybrid fresh chicken processing factory at Pedas Halal Park.

Also present were Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Executive Chairman of Hy-Fresh Albarakah Food Industries Sdn Bhd, Datuk Mohd Tahir Picho, and Founder of Hy-Fresh Group, Datuk Seri Pua Tian Song.

He said Malaysia was one of the net exporters of broiler chickens in Association of Southeast Asian Nations and was no longer a chicken-importing country.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said the halal certificates issued by the country were among the best known in the world and many countries were keen to seek them.

"During my visit to South Korea and Japan, they had requested Malaysia send its halal products to the countries in conjunction with an international 'event' because halal is not just for Muslims, it is for all religions.

"This is because halal has a Standard Operating Procedure in terms of hygiene which is appreciated by the world market," he said.

In this regard, the Deputy Prime Minister said, big-scale poultry farmers and breeders needed to improve their productivity, thus contributing to the country's food security.

"We know that what we have done is part of the nation's food security strategy. We are not just looking at the bottom line in the production of chicken but for the long term where we want to produce the cheapest protein for all to enJoy, he said.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said he hoped that poultry farmers and entrepreneurs in the country would not use chemicals in the breeding of chicken as it could harm the consumers' health.

Hy-Fresh, founded by Datuk Mohd Tahir Picho and Datuk Seri Pua Tian Song, started operations last year with slaughtering facilities capable of processing 150,000 chickens per day.

The products are sold to supermarkets such as NSK, Tesco, Giant and Econsave and the company has become a major supplier to KFC, Old Town, Ayamas as well as exporting chicken to Singapore.