Bakery apologises for ‘misinterpretation’ over Christmas greetings
Published on: Wednesday, December 20, 2023
By: FMT Reporters
The local bakery chain says the incident occurred due to a misinterpretation of the requirements for halal certification.
PETALING JAYA: A local bakery chain has apologised to customers over a now removed ban on writing Christmas greetings on cakes, following the government’s announcement that it does not prohibit halal-certified bakeries from doing so.
“We sincerely apologise to all our customers regarding the incident.
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“This incident occurred due to our misinterpretation of the requirements for our halal certification,” Berry’s Cake House said in a statement.
Last Saturday, the bakery chain was accused of being racist for not allowing Christmas greetings on its cakes. It said it was merely abiding by a rule set by Jakim, the Islamic development department.
Religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar subsequently said there were no restrictions on festive greetings on cakes for customers to take home.
Jakim also issued a statement on Facebook last night, saying there was nothing to prohibit halal-certified bakeries from writing any festive greetings on their cakes or related products.
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Last week, an image of an internal memo from the bakery instructing its employees to refuse any requests to decorate cakes with “Merry Christmas” or “Xmas greetings” was widely shared on social media.
According to the memo, customers were to be given the option of using a “Season’s Greetings” cake topper, drawing sharp criticism from netizens who claimed that the chain was practising discrimination.
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Berry’s retracted the instruction after the government announced that it did not prohibit halal-certified bakeries from including festive greetings on its products.
According to an FMT survey, a shop assistant at Berry’s in Subang Jaya, Selangor, said the company had removed its notice telling staff not to accept requests for Christmas greetings on cakes.
FMT then successfully purchased a cake with the “Merry Christmas” greeting.
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