Shops that do not separate Golden Churn from halal products face whopping fine

KUCHING: Traders are being told to separate Golden Churn Creamery Butter from other halal dairy and cold storage products, and place them in the non-halal zone with immediate effect.

Failing to do so will see a whopping fine amounting to RM100,000 or three years of imprisonment under the Trade Description Act, said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry state director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman.

He said his enforcement officers would be carrying out checks on all supermarkets and shops statewide to ensure that this would be done accordingly.

“Golden Churn Creamery Butter needs to be placed with other non-halal products in supermarkets and shops and traders need to clearly inform consumers that the product is not halal. This is regardless of whether the butter comes from a different batch of stock and not from the ones tested to contain pig DNA.

“Since there are doubts on the halal status of the product, it’s best to generalise all are not halal even if some stock from a different batch was certified halal. This is to reduce confusion among consumers,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Ahmad said the Golden Churn Creamery Butter supplier had been instructed to make special stickers to cover the halal logo printed on the product’s packaging.

“We’re very glad that the supplier is very cooperative,” he said.

He added that there was no need to dispose of the product as it could still be sold to non-Muslim consumers.

Ahmad said since Thursday the department had formed four teams to carry out checks on Sarawak layered-cake or kek lapis manufacturers’ premises to ensure they were well informed of the butter’s status.

To date, they had visited six premises and more would be inspected in the coming days throughout the state, he said.

“All four kek lapis manufacturers and bakeries inspected on Thursday namely Mira Cake House, Dayang Salhah Enterprise, Afifi Kek Lapis Sarawak and Norjas Bakery showed that they never used Golden Churn Creamery Butter,” he said.

He said his men also carried out checks at Di Wannie Cake and Rabiah Amit Enterprise here yesterday.

“Di Wannie Cake which used the brand previously has carried out samak to purify its kitchen appliances and premise.

“Rabiah Amit also used the brand at her old factory in Jalan Astana which was burnt down about two years ago but not anymore at her new factory in Demak Laut,” he explained.Shops that do not separate Golden Churn from halal products face whopping fine