A man wrote on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page that he had found pork in the halal meat freezer at the Giant Supermarket at Loyang Point.
Mr Sam Massari also included in his Sunday (Sept 11) post a screenshot of the pork inside the freezer, which had a sticker that very clearly indicated a request from store management to “Please do not place any non-halal items here.”
He also tagged the Facebook page of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) in the post.
Halal, which means “permissible” in Arabic, refers to food which adheres to Islamic law, as defined in the Koran.
“Animals must be alive and healthy at the time of slaughter and all blood is drained from the carcass. During the process, a Muslim will recite a dedication, known as tasmiya or shahada,” a BBC article explained.
Beef, lamb, goat, venison, bison, chicken, turkey, fish, and shellfish can be halal meats, but pork is considered “haram” or forbidden.
Traditionally, no halal food should be stored with non-halal food.
Netizens commenting on Mr Massari’s post said they guessed that a shopper had just been too lazy to return the pork to where they had gotten it.
One commenter suggested it could have been a case of sabotage and said the store staff should be informed.
“This is the bad habit of people. They just anyhow put their unwanted items after deciding not to buy,” another wrote.
“No supermarket would put pork products alongside halal ones. Especially meats like these,” one woman commented.
“Rarely is case of the shop worker, everywhere place a strong emphasis of not mixing halal and non-halal items, lazy customers,” wrote another.
One said the same had already happened at an NTUC store.
Others, however, suggested that some shoppers may have been up to mischief.
/TISG
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