Customer orders 1 kg of roast pork for S$65, receives only 700 g; seller tells him, ‘Pork shrinks while cooking’

SINGAPORE: A customer who recently purchased roast pork advertised at S$65 per kilogram from a popular home-based business said he was taken aback when the portion delivered weighed slightly under 700 g — far less than what he had expected to receive.

In an anonymous post on the r/askSingapore subreddit on Sunday (Jan 18), the customer shared that when he raised the matter with the seller, he was told that “pork shrinks while cooking” and that the original weight of the raw pork had been about 1.1 kg before roasting.

The explanation did not sit well with the customer. He noted that when his parents purchase roast pork from hawker stalls that sell by weight, they typically receive a full kilogram of cooked meat rather than portions calculated based on raw weight.

“And for the record, the order form stated that the roasted pork belly is S$65 (1 kg), with no indication or fine print that it is the raw weight,” he added.

Questioning whether this practice was acceptable, the buyer sought the opinions of other Singaporeans, particularly those who frequently purchase roast pork. 

“Can I have people’s opinion, especially those who buy roast pork often, on whether this is normal?” he wrote.  “300+ g is around 1/3 of the pork, and it ain’t very cheap to begin with either. In my opinion, this is not transparent marketing, but maybe this is the norm in SG, so I may be wrong in interpreting this situation?”

“Anyway, I gave this feedback to the seller, and all he said was, ‘Thank you for the feedback.’ I mean, after I texted him the whole paragraph, I did mention that this was just some feedback (and did not talk about any form of compensation), but it is indeed quite eye-opening to see how the business world works sometimes.”

“Getting less than 700 grams of roast pork for S$65 is quite insane.”

Within hours of being posted on Reddit, the story garnered more than 400 upvotes and drew over 170 comments, with the majority of users voicing support for the customer.

One user said, “I order 1 kg raw pork, I expect to get 1 kg raw pork. I order 1 kg roasted pork, I expect to get 1 kg roasted pork. No other way around it.”

Another commented, “1 kg after cooking. Unless clearly stated, you’re paying for the final product, not the raw ingredients.”

A third commenter, who runs a roast meat business, also weighed in:

“Getting less than 700 grams of roast pork for S$65 is quite insane in this day and age. Most, if not all, in the industry are very transparent,” they wrote. 

“Customers will let us know how much they want, and we will portion it out on the scale before chopping it into smaller pieces. If anything, we usually err on the side of caution, so it will always exceed by a little (~50-80 g). Most roast items are sold like this, even for char siew.”

There were a few, however, who chimed in to say they would not really mind the weight.

One explained, “Personally, I would expect the weight to be that of the raw meat, because if I order a steak in a steakhouse, the stated weight would be the weight of the raw meat. I do not know what the norm is, though. I would not complain if it were the weight of the cooked meat, of course.”

Having an inkling of which home-based business the post was referring to, one individual took the time to check its Instagram page. They said, “Just went to check the order form, there’s no mention of the weight, unless you were shown a different form then…”

In response, the post author wrote, “Yep, the old form stated, ‘Each Portion of Roasted Pork Belly will be $65 (around 1 kg and serves 4-5 pax).’ I have the screenshot for this form too. Apparently, people mentioned they have removed the weight and now only mention portion size, but I have yet to see this myself.”

Price Transparency

According to Singapore Legal Advice, unfair pricing practices may lead to legal consequences and, in the process, damage a business’s reputation. 

Moreover, in line with the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) guidelines, suppliers must clearly display all unavoidable or mandatory charges, such as taxes, surcharges, or service fees, in the total headline price. 

Discounts, promotional benefits, or any price comparisons with competitors must also be accurate.

Additionally, any representation that a good or service is free must not be misleading.

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