Zahid hopes 'ham sandwich' issue no longer played up


Published: Jan 19, 2025 7:32 PM


Summary

• Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hopes the ‘ham sandwich’ scandal is over.

• He says the convenience store has pulled the product and that it may have been a mistake.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hopes no one continues to make a big deal out of the “ham” sandwich scandal.

He said various quarters had already taken action on the matter.

"The public university's move to shut down two convenience store chains on campus that sold the ham sandwiches was an immediate action.

"I (as the) Halal Industry Development Council chairperson, in cooperation with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), have made several recommendations so that matters touching on religion are avoided.

"I hope this issue is no longer played up because the convenience store chain had also taken proactive measures to pull the product, and it may have been a mistake. We hope this serves as a good lesson," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

The ham and cheese sandwiches - which also had the halal label - were found to be sold at KK Mart outlets at Universiti Malaya over a week ago.

This led to an uproar - including from Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh - on how "ham" could be labelled as halal.

Akmal was then embroiled in heated arguments with DAP leaders, who argued that ham need not necessarily be a pork product.


READ MORE: Are ham and cheese sandwiches halal?


The sandwiches were produced by Shake and Bake Cafe Sdn Bhd, which used halal-certified chicken ham to make the sandwiches.

However, the company did not have the certification to put the halal logo on the sandwich packaging.

KK Mart also accused the company of using the chain's logo on the packaging without permission.