Berry's Cake House apologises for ‘misinterpretation’ over Christmas greetings

Berry's Cake House apologises for ‘misinterpretation’ over Christmas greetings

Last Saturday, an internal memo from the bakery chain prohibiting requests to decorate cakes with ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Xmas greetings’ went viral. Picture for illustration purposes only. — Unsplash pic

Wednesday, 20 Dec 2023 3:40 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Local bakery chain Berry’s Cake House has removed its internal ban on writing “Christmas” on its 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.

“This incident occurred due to our misinterpretation of the requirements for our halal certification,” Free Malaysia Today quoted Berry’s Cake House’s statement.

Last Saturday, an internal memo from the bakery chain prohibiting requests to decorate cakes with “Merry Christmas” or “Xmas greetings” went viral.


According to the memo, customers were given the option of using a “Season’s Greetings” cake topper instead and also said that this was because the bakery was abiding by Jakim’s halal requirements.

However, the memo drew criticism from people and many accused the bakery of practising racism and discrimination, causing an uproar.

Religious affairs minister Datuk Seri Na’im Mokhtar later clarified that there were no restrictions on festive greetings on cakes.

Jakim also stated on Facebook that there was no reason to prohibit halal-certified bakeries from writing any festive greetings on their cakes or related products.

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kt comments:

Don't blame Berry’s Cake House for the brouhaha. The cake shop was merely adhering to JAKIM's earlier/previous directive (issued in 2020). The now defunct MalaysiaNow published on 25 Dec 2020 the following:

“Festive greetings on products are permitted if they are not to be displayed on premises which have halal certification or on products bearing the halal logo.

“There is no prohibition on non-Islamic celebrations in the Manual on Procedures For Halal Malaysia Certification (Domestic),” the department said in a statement, responding to a report by MalaysiaNow.

Read also:

‘Merry Christmas’ can invalidate halal certificate, says Jakim 

Halal poser over ‘Merry Christmas’ greeting on cake

The document was cited by a spokesman in Jakim, who told MalaysiaNow to attribute his comments to its communications unit.

Jakim later said the document cited was for the purpose of applicants and holders of the Halal Malaysia certificate.

That was in 2020 which clearly stated JAKIM's directive that cakes with festive greetings must NOT be displayed if the halal certification for a shop were to remain valid.

Now, in 2023, with a new Religious Minister, Datuk Seri Na’im Mokhtar, who was also a Syariah Court judge, in fact the 4th Chief Judge of the Syariah Court from April 2019 until he became a minister in the Madani government on 03 Dec 2022, he has laid down his policy - JAKIM kuaikuai STFU and whimpered the (Minister's) new directive supersedes the previous (2020) JAKIM directive.

Minister Datuk Seri Na’im Mokhtar has quite an impressive academic portfolio and an equally impressive track record as an Islamic expert so what else could the half-baked Lil' Napoleons in JAKIM do other than STFU? wakakaka.

But poor What's-his-name the operations manager of Berry’s Cake House was nicely positioned to take the anger of the netizens and receive the consequential sh*! , whilst JAKIM tip-toed away through the tulips, acting dunno, wakakaka.