Golden Churn canned butter recalled after halal debacle

KUCHING: The Golden Churn butter producer will voluntarily recall all its canned butter worth approximately RM5mil from the Malaysian market.

This is due to possible porcine contamination of the butter produced in New Zealand.

Golden Churn manufacturer Ballantyne Foods Pty Ltd regional general manager Hemmat Nasrallah said the decision was made during a meeting with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Sarawak Religious Department (Jais) and Chemistry Department in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“It was decided that we will do a voluntary recall,” he told The Star.

However, he said the Golden Churn frozen butter produced in Australia, which comes in 250gm packets, was in the clear and would not be recalled.

“Jakim has confirmed that the frozen butter from Australia is halal. There’s no problem with it,” he said.

Hemmat said the recall would be done throughout Malaysia as soon as possible.

He said it would involve roughly 240,000 cans in three sizes — 340gm, which sells for about RM12, 454gm (RM15 to RM16) and 2kg (RM65 to RM70). According to him, the 340gm cans constitute 35% of the market, the 454gm cans 40% and the 2kg cans 15%.

The meeting was held to resolve the issue surrounding the status of Golden Churn butter.

Jakim had declared the product halal in July after finding that the contamination was limited to samples taken from a batch in Johor.

However, later that month, Jais advised Muslims in Sarawak to stop using Golden Churn butter after porcine DNA was found in a sample taken from the local market.

State authorities then decided to withdraw the halal certification logo from the product.

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry was asked to enforce the withdrawal of the logo.

Traders were told to separate Golden Churn butter from other halal dairy products and place it in the non-halal section. Those who fail to separate the products face a hefty fine.

The removal of the halal status has affected Sarawak layered- cake entrepreneurs, who felt they were victimised by claims that they used the product when they actually used other brands of butter.