Dear TRS,
As the month of Ramadhan is heading towards the end, I would like to highlight a few things that concern me as a muslim individual and maybe other Muslims as well.
There are a lot of stalls set up at the "Geylang Bazaar" with a variety of food and traditional costumes to select from.
This Bazaar is actually a Muslim Eid Festival Bazaar so you would expect that most of the food is Halal. However, this is not the case and I believe there are many Muslims out there that may be confused about what different signs at food stalls mean.
I was excited to try this famous "fried oreo" that has been talked about on social media but when I went to the stall, I noticed that the stall has no "halal" certification.
The stall also sold meat products besides "fried oreos".
They did mention there was "no pork no lard" however not many understand the term. Many would think it is "Ok" to eat. In fact, I did see a few Malay customers lining up at the stall to buy the famous fried oreos.
But actually, "No Pork, No Lard" does not mean that the stall is halal certified and it is not OK to eat just because there is no pork and no lard.
I can only assume that the stall is not Halal seeing as they did not display any Halal certification.
I am quite disappointed that a Muslim Eid Festival Bazaar had non halal food stalls, as clearly there many Muslims also confused about the lack of signage.
Maybe the government should consider making regulations that require stalls to make it more clear about their foods so that people can know what they are buying. It's a matter of respect and beliefs of people.
Singaporean Malay
TRS Contributor