Instant Bread Soup From Scarlett Lot One Has ‘Methamphetamine’ As Ingredient, Supermarket Blames Translation Error

Instant Bread Soup From Scarlett Lot One Lists ‘Methamphetamine’ Ingredient, Affected Items Recalled

Since they opened in Singapore in 2020, Scarlett Supermarket has become popular for selling Chinese products that otherwise may not be too well-known here.

One of them is instant bread soup — soup with pieces of flat bread.

However, a netizen was confounded when he spotted the name of a controlled drug — methamphetamine — listed as an ingredient on a packet sold in Scarlett’s Lot One outlet.

The supermarket has said that it’s a translation error.

‘Methamphetamine’ ingredient listed on instant bread soup from Scarlett

In a Reddit post on Wednesday (5 Apr), a netizen asked whether “methamphetamine” was a normal ingredient in Liu Yi Pao Xi’an Paomo.

He shared a photo of an ingredients list, ostensibly for the product, which is a version of instant bread soup with lamb.

The list also states that the item was imported by the Green Olive Group, which operates Scarlett Supermarket in Singapore.

Item from Scarlett Lot One

Asked where he got this from, the OP replied that it was from Scarlett Supermarket at Lot One.

A netizen (hopefully) joked that they’d bought the product too and was now “addicted”.

Other jokesters referenced popular American series “Breaking Bad” by quipping that this situation was “breaking bread” or “baking bad”.

Scarlett says it’s translation error

Scarlett Supermarket clarified to The Straits Times that the product didn’t in fact have methamphetamine in it.

What was supposed to be listed as the ingredient was glacial acetic acid, which is a food additive.

However, the ingredient had been translated wrongly by the manufacturer from China.

All the affected items have been removed from the shelves of Scarlett Lot One and are back in the warehouse.

The error was in a batch of products sent by Chinese manufacturer Shaanxi Qinhou Food Technology on 12 Feb, ST quoted a letter from the company as saying.

Items found without English labels in Scarlett

In 2021, a shopper found several items in Scarlett People’s Park Complex that didn’t have any English labels.

This prompted the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to investigate, as the Singapore’s Food Regulations state that mandatory labelling requirements must be in English.

Apparently, not only must food labels be in English, the authorities might now have to prescribe that they’re properly translated as well.

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Featured image adapted from Reddit and Google Maps.