SHAH ALAM, June 20 — Under fire for the recent uproar involving porcine DNA in Cadbury chocolates, Malaysia’s religious authorities blamed popular text messaging application WhatsApp and the social media for spreading the issue before action could be taken.

In a forum on the halal issue and consumers, a representative from the Malaysian Islamic Religious Department (Jakim) also blamed public perception, after some in the audience expressed their lack of trust in the agency following the episode.

“We were unfazed, because we have always gone through similar issues like this. It was the sophistication of today’s technology. [Before this], there was no WhatsApp and Facebook was still not famous yet,” said Muhammad Naim Mohd Aziz, an assistant director with Jakim’s Halal Hub Department.

“Because of the sophistication today, things were added on. We become ‘tukang karut’,” he said, using the Malay term that roughly means “storytellers”.

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Naim added that those who had spread the news mostly did so without knowledge of the real issue and were uneducated on DNA.

He pointed out that there were other products that were recalled before after porcine DNA was detected in them such as Tabasco sauce, Golden Churn butter and QBB ghee, but because social media was less popular then, reaction from the public was milder.

Late last month, more than 20 Malay-Muslim groups called for a nationwide boycott on all Cadbury products, saying a holy war should be waged against the confectionary giant for attempting to “weaken” Muslims in Malaysia.

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The groups which included the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), Perkasa, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Darul Islah Malaysia (Perkid), Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) and the Halal Muslim Entrepreneurs’ Association (Puhm) claimed that Cadbury had “crossed the line” by selling its porcine-tainted chocolates, and that swift action was needed.

Rumours of the porcine taint had first cropped up on social media sites, and today, the Health Ministry announced that it is carrying out an internal inquiry to identify those guilty of leaking its preliminary test results on Cadbury products.

Jakim has since declared that the two batches of Cadbury chocolate products previously found tainted with porcine DNA are halal and safe for Muslim consumption.

Despite that, the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) said that its boycott stands.
PPIM president Datuk Nadzim Johan, who was also a panellist in the forum today, insisted that a whistleblower informed him that there are 18 other Cadbury products still found to be tainted with porcine DNA.