Chinatown Supermarket Products Allegedly Found Without English Labels, SFA Investigating

Scarlett Supermarket In Chinatown Allegedly Sells Products Without English Labels

Over recent years, numerous supermarkets have popped up across Singapore selling imported products.

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Though many of these products have labels in a foreign language, most stores make it a point to provide relevant information in English too. Here’s an example from Japanese supermarket Don Don Donki:

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Recently, however, items at a Chinese supermarket in Chinatown were reportedly found without any English labels.

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As regulations require packaged food products to declare certain information in English, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is currently investigating the matter.

Nearly half of Chinatown supermarket products have no English labels

According to 8World News, one of their readers who visited a Scarlett Supermarket (思家客) outlet found English labels missing from more than half of their food products.

There were apparently prohibited items on sale as well, one of them being chicken floss ice cream.

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Reportedly a frozen meat product, Singapore doesn’t allow the import of items under this category from China.

When 8World News visited the Scarlett Supermarket at People’s Park Complex, they made similar observations.

Of the 10 items that they inspected, 4 to 5 had no English labels.

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Mandatory labelling requirements must be in English

According to SFA, the Food Regulations dictate that mandatory labelling requirements must be in English.

Apart from these, there are no restrictions on the use of other languages, as long as they do not contradict the label in English.

SFA is reportedly investigating the situation with Scarlett Supermarket and will not hesitate to take enforcement if there are any irregularities.

Customers who find any products without proper labels can also send their feedback to SFA via the link here.

Important to label products properly

Regardless of their target customers, stores that specialise in imports ought to have proper labels in English.

This will allow customers of all races to buy goods from these outlets while being aware of what exactly it is they’re purchasing.

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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.