NTUC FairPrice’s “Halal Pork” scandal

Picture taken from eddyra.net

As reported on Straits Times:

NTUC FairPrice has lodged a police report after it found a picture of ‘halal pork’ allegedly sold by the supermarket chain making the rounds on the Internet (picture above).

The photo shows a packet of FairPrice’s Pasar brand pork bearing a green ‘halal’ sticker.

This sticker can be carried only on foods that are permissible according to Islamic law. Pork is considered ‘haram’ or ‘forbidden’ in Islam.

A FairPrice spokesman said: ‘We regard this case as a deliberate and wilful act of mischief and will not hesitate to take all necessary steps to ensure that such an act is halted immediately with no repetition thereafter.’

The supermarket chain declined to comment further as investigations are ongoing.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), on being alerted to the photo, carried out its own checks at eight FairPrice outlets. It found that none of the specified items bore the Muis halal certification mark.

A Muis spokesman said: ‘We treat the case of the Muis halal certification mark on the packaging containing pork very seriously as the halal mark has been abused.’

He added that under the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA), an abuser of the Muis halal certification mark is liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to a jail term not exceeding 12 months, or both.

This means the perpetrator is culpable even if the mark is a sticker, a fake or was digitally added.

The photo sparked reactions from both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Said teacher Nurdianna Malik, 25: ‘Pork is a big taboo in Islam. This ‘joke’ is really insensitive. The Government has tried so hard to promote religious harmony and pranks like this make me sad because they detract strongly from such harmony.’

Not too sure if this was meant to be a joke by some prankster – it may also be due to tardiness on the part of a FairPrice staff doing the labelling.

I am rather amazed there are actually Singaporeans who believe there can really be halal pork… is this religious ignorance? Or simply pure apathy to our communities?

In any case, the whole incidence has been blown quite out of proportion. I guess this is the power of the Internet. News, gossip and hearsay are able to spread like wildfire in a very short period.

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