sausages are innocent

Earlier I blogged about the fiasco of the restaurant in IKEA accused of serving non-halal sausages to its customers. Apparently, the supplier allegedly uses pig intestines to form the sausage casings, and the halal certifications that come with the sausages have expired. One sausage manufacturer has defended itself by stating and claiming that their sausages are 100% halal, and even paraded the halal certification in the media.

Fast forward 1 week

The Star reports that the sausages are indeed halal, citing the full report from National News Agency Bernama. There was never any non-halal ingredient, and the only offense seems to be the posession of an expired halal certificate.

Metro Star also runs a story on the reopening of the IKEA restaurant following its religious cleansing exercise to allay the fears of its Muslim patrons. This shows that although IKEA seems to be the biggest victim in this whole saga, they have been great corporate citizens in ensuring the customer's satisfaction is of utmost priority. Although they did not have to perform the "samak" exercise, they did it anyway in the spirit of excellence in customer service.

The real culprits?

New Straits Times highlights pork products from China carrying a falsified halal logo. In mockery of the entire halal status, these canned minced pork products come printed with the halal logo in plain view of the undiscerning consumer.

Perhaps, instead of generating much negative publicity to the leading furniture enterprise, the authorities would be better off catching the real crooks.