NEA investigates rumours of cat and dog satay sold at Geylang Serai Raya Bazaar
PUBLISHED ONJune 08, 2017 1:43 AMByJoey Lee
Rumours of cat and dog meat being sold at the Geylang Serai Raya Bazaar have been circulating via Whatsapp and Facebook these past two weeks.
The messages shared on Whatsapp warn of workers at a "stall 124" at the Bazaar being caught by "MOH officials" mixing dog and cat meat into the marinade of their satay.
Facebook posts about the incident include several photographs - one of a man being taken away by officials, one with several tubs of satay on the ground, a graphic photo of a mutilated dog, and a photo of several men hunched over a basin skewering meat.
When contacted, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said no arrests had been made of sellers mixing dog and cat meat into the food.
MOM could confirm that the only official arrests made so far were of the 22 unlicensed food handlers and illegal workers in a raid conducted last month.
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Responding to AsiaOne's queries on June 7, NEA stated that they are aware of the claims and are investigating the rumours.
"The National Environment Agency (NEA) is aware of a message circulating online which claims that a stall in the Geylang Serai Bazaar is selling satay made from dog and cat meat," said the statement.
"Based on NEA's inspection on May 31, 2017, Stall 124 at the Geylang Serai Bazaar was selling 'dengdeng' and not satay, as claimed in the online posts. Further investigations are ongoing," added the statement.
Chinese evening newspaper Wanbao reported yesterday (June7), that based on their investigations, the rumours circulated are untrue and only the image of the man being arrested was from Singapore.
The rest of the report stated that remaining images were compiled from various sources on the web.
This is the third scandal to hit the popular food market following the crackdown on unlicensed food handlers and online furore over how the majority of food sold there were non-halal.
Stay vigilant people, and don't believe everything you read online.
ljoey@sph.com.sg