The government today pledged there would be no cover-up if it were hit by a deadly bird flu that is spreading across Asia, while warning breeders that the poultry industry was under threat.

The authorities say the country is free of the disease but Deputy Agriculture Minister Mohamad Shariff admitted that the threat of an outbreak was "very high" as neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia had been affected.

Some Asian governments have been accused of covering up outbreaks of bird flu until forced to acknowledge that the disease was rife in their countries.

The flu has already caused at least 10 human deaths in outbreaks in 10 countries.

"We are not going to hide anything," Mohamad told reporters.

He said that some 100 chickens died at a farm in Bukit Changang, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur on Jan 27 but they had been free of bird flu.

"We immediately conducted a test and it revealed negative and had nothing to do with the bird flu," he said.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines said it had ceased the uplift of chicken meals from countries affected by the bird flu.

"Seafood and vegetarian dishes now replace chicken from its in-flight menus on these flights," it said in a statement.

The carrier said in anticipation of softening demand for the dish, the airline had removed chicken meals from all its international flights out of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia Airlines said its supply of chicken are sourced from Johor and Penang, adding that it would continue to serve chicken meals on domestic flights.

Media scrutiny

Health Minister Chua Jui Meng echoed Mohamad's remarks at a separate news conference.

When asked if Malaysia was withholding information on the bird flu crisis, he replied: "Absolutely not."

"You know, in a disease outbreak you cannot withhold information. It will come out. And don't forget we are under constant scrutiny by the local and international media," he said.

On concerns in Singapore, which imports all its chicken meat from Malaysia, the minister said: "Singapore can rest assured that we will be very transparent."

The tiny island republic imports some 150,000 chickens and 200,000 eggs from Malaysia daily, mainly from southern Johor state.

Mohamad said the annual value of Malaysia's poultry industry was about RM3.6 billion. There are some 3,207 farms in the country.

"About 100 officers are carrying out checks on farms nationwide," he said.

Malaysia has banned the import of chicken products from all affected countries and stepped up security at the northern Malaysia-Thailand border to prevent the smuggling in of chickens. - AFP