The government promised "a new life" for farmers, but 40 pig farms were closed down in four years, the PN said in a statement.

"Farmers are angry at the government for leaving food fraud go on uncontrolled. Pork, chicken and eggs are sold as though they are Maltese, but are in fact frozen and come from outside the European Union."

The PN spoke of the importance of taking care of Maltese products "as we are risking food security. We cannot continue to depend on imported products. We need to help local producers," PN Chief Spokesperson Peter Agius and election candidate Charles Azzopardi said.

"The PL's manifesto read that it would help farmers, breathe new life into this sector. "Not only did they not do this, of the 134 pig farms licensed in 2017, these now number 93. More than 40 pig farms have gone under the Labour government," Agius said.

"Over the past nine years, pork production locally dropped from 110,000kgs per week to 85,000kgs per week - a 30% reduction in production," Agius said, warning that at this rate the country is moving towards the elimination of the local production.

The two PN representatives said that the government had also promised to help farmers with the price of animal feed.  "Five years later they gave no such direct support, and the prices have risen 30% in the last year alone."

They said that the PN believes in local produce and already announced a series of proposals, including using EU laws to help instead of restricting local farmers.

"The PN will combat food fraud."