A product’s packaging matters, as a recent incident involving local supermarket chain FairPrice shows.
After customers allegedly found the packaging of their house brand Arabiki Sausage misleading, the supermarket chain renamed and repackaged the product.
But as photos of the former packaging continue to circulate online, FairPrice has taken to social media to clear the air.
Source: Facebook
The supermarket chain explained that the term Arabiki is the Japanese phrase for “coarsely ground”.
The saga apparently began from a Facebook post accusing FairPrice of being “very insensitive” for naming its product ‘Arabiki Sausage’.
The OP questioned why the name contained the word “Arab”, which they claimed might confuse Muslims.
Source: Reddit
The post circulated online recently, but FairPrice took to Facebook themselves to clarify that they first became aware of the post in Jul 2020.
Source: Facebook
They also pointed out that the image in the post showed the product’s expiry date to be in the year 2020.
Since then, the supermarket chain has repackaged the product as Japanese-Style Pork Sausage, of which they included a photo in their post.
FairPrice explained that the term ‘Arabiki’ actually means “coarsely ground” in Japanese.
Following FairPrice’s post, multiple commenters, including some from the Muslim community, expressed their disagreement with the decision to rename the product.
This Facebook user, for instance, felt that the misunderstanding stems from ignorance rather than mislabelling.
Source: Facebook
Rather than remove the word ‘Arabiki’ completely, they suggested adding a definition of the term to the packaging instead.
A commenter who claimed to be Muslim meanwhile stated that people of the faith “only look for the halal symbol” when buying food products. The word ‘Arab’ thus carries no significant connotation.
Source: Facebook
Another commenter commended FairPrice for its effort in alleviating the situation.
Source: Facebook
Religious teacher Nadia Hanim also took to social media to share her two cents on the matter.
Source: Facebook
She questioned the OP’s post from 2020, calling them out for their ignorance towards the Japanese language.
Source: Facebook
Indeed, while FairPrice’s prompt actions are commendable, the incident reminds us to pause and think thoroughly before jumping to conclusions.
Let’s remember to do that moving forward, to show respect to all cultures and religions.
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Featured image adapted from Reddit and FairPrice.
Its shortest teleconsultation was conducted in one second.
May he have a restful leave.
The fierce fight involved items like plates, bottles, containers and a chair.
LTA urged members of the public to avoid using these services for their own safety.
Many are concerned about the possibility of identity theft and heightened scams.
Other recyclables such as old books and magazines are also accepted.