KUCHING: The sampling of Golden Churn Creamery Butter, which was later found to be tainted with swine DNA, was not carried out intentionally but out of concern for Muslims, Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs) Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman said yesterday.
He explained that the State Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) had taken a few samples for testing following the discovery of contamination in Johor.
“We sent the samples to the chemists in Putrajaya to do the test. Two months later we received the result, which also turned out to be positive. Thus, we felt duty bound to tell everyone that the product is contaminated….we cannot hide the fact.
“It is never our intention to find fault with anyone but once a product is found to contain ingredients not permissible in Islam then we have to do something. We have to alert all Muslims about it or else we will not be doing our job,” Daud told a press conference at Bangunan Masja here yesterday.
Daud said under normal circumstances JAIS trusted all products which had been certified as halal by the Islamic Council in any part of the world.
“Usually, we do not have any doubt unless there are complaints from the public. But in the case of the Golden Churn Creamery Butter we decided to send it for test when the Johor Islamic religious authority discovered that the contamination found in their coffee samples actually came from the butter.
“To clear doubts among consumers here, we decided to get some samples and sent it for chemistry testing.”
Asked about contradicting results from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and Jais, Daud said it could be due to the sampling of different types of butter.
“We were made to understand that Jakim tested the packet butter and not canned one. That is why they got a negative result.”
He explained that there were two types of butter having the same brand name but different packaging.
“There are two types of Golden Churn Butter. The one in packet form is manufactured in Australia and the one in cans is manufactured in New Zealand. The one we now ban is the canned one.”
Daud said he understood the dilemma many people, especially kek lapis manufacturers, were facing as a result of this ban.
“We pity those kek lapis manufacturers but there is really nothing much we can do to help because anything forbidden by Islam should be disallowed.”
Daud said he was pleased that the affected manufacturers had agreed to voluntarily withdraw the products from the market throughout the country.KUCHING: The sampling of Golden Churn Creamery Butter, which was later found to be tainted with swine DNA, was not carried out intentionally but out of concern for Muslims, Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs) Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman said yesterday.
He explained that the State Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) had taken a few samples for testing following the discovery of contamination in Johor.
“We sent the samples to the chemists in Putrajaya to do the test. Two months later we received the result, which also turned out to be positive. Thus, we felt duty bound to tell everyone that the product is contaminated….we cannot hide the fact.
“It is never our intention to find fault with anyone but once a product is found to contain ingredients not permissible in Islam then we have to do something. We have to alert all Muslims about it or else we will not be doing our job,” Daud told a press conference at Bangunan Masja here yesterday.
Daud said under normal circumstances JAIS trusted all products which had been certified as halal by the Islamic Council in any part of the world.
“Usually, we do not have any doubt unless there are complaints from the public. But in the case of the
Golden Churn Creamery Butter we decided to send it for test when the Johor Islamic religious authority discovered that the contamination found in their coffee samples actually came from the butter.
“To clear doubts among consumers here, we decided to get some samples and sent it for chemistry testing.”
Asked about contradicting results from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and Jais, Daud said it could be due to the sampling of different types of butter.
“We were made to understand that Jakim tested the packet butter and not canned one. That is why they got a negative result.”
He explained that there were two types of butter having the same brand name but different packaging.
“There are two types of Golden Churn Butter. The one in packet form is manufactured in Australia and the one in cans is manufactured in New Zealand. The one we now ban is the canned one.”
Daud said he understood the dilemma many people, especially kek lapis manufacturers, were facing as a result of this ban.
“We pity those kek lapis manufacturers but there is really nothing much we can do to help because anything forbidden by Islam should be disallowed.”
Daud said he was pleased that the affected manufacturers had agreed to voluntarily withdraw the products from the market throughout the country.