Secret Recipe : Halal or Not?

Salam..

It's certainly been a while. And I'm happy to say that I've already presented my paper at ICBioE'11 which takes place at Legend Hotel (directly in front of PWTC) and coincidentally my Form 5 dinner venue back in 2003.. Oh, how time flies.. And don't worry, pictures will be posted in the next update. For now, I wanted to share something as I've said in the title.

I know that this past few days a lot of people would have heard about this, especially Malaysian Muslims. There was a confusion on this matter due to the announcement made in Halal Malaysia Portal (www.halal.gov.my) regarding "PENEMUAN DNA BABI DALAM BAHAN RAMUAN SYARIKAT PURATOS MALAYSIA SDN BHD" (which translates to Discovery of Pig DNA in Ingredients Manufactured by Puratos Malaysia Sdn Bhd) and were picked up by a number of blogs linking it to Secret Recipe.

And this is why:

Puratos Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. also supplied baking ingredients, and the two that I've circled contains the phrase "Secret Recipe". This is not, in any way, means that this two were Secret Recipe (restaurant) cakes. It *is* not. If you could see from the website itself or from the image above, both Talento Brownies Concentrate Secret Recipe and Talento Cake Concentrate Secret Recipe were their own products, not Secret Recipe. And thanks to the efforts of a blogger, just yesterday Secret Recipe Cakes & Cafe Sdn. Bhd. had clarified this matter. You can read the full statement here :

http://fatihashuhaimy.blogspot.com/2011/05/update-maklumbalas-dari-secret-recipe.html

The gist of it is that the blogger had emailed her concerns on the halal dispute over Secret Recipe cakes, and a response came from Secret Recipe Cakes & Cafe Sdn. Bhd. explaining that they do not acquire any ingredients from Puratos Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and all their ingredients and cakes were halal-certified by JAKIM.

So everyone, please spread the word.. Actually the reason I'm highlighting this is that it is a very serious matter. As a blogger, we have the flexibility of saying anything we want, true, but we also have a responsibility to make sure what we say is true. Although some might say that there is always two sides of a story, but it remains to be acknowledged that facts would always be more reliable than hearsay.

So please, before posting something up, especially when the subject of the matter involves sensitive things like this, make sure that your words are backed by facts, not only something that you conclude based on what is apparently there. It's understandable that sometimes we were overly excited when we noticed anything of this magnitude, hence the news can't wait. But would it hurt too much to take a breather and try to confirm it first?

You are the judge, readers. I've done my part. Hopefully the confusion will be settled over this. Thanks for reading!

=)