PUTRAJAYA – It is illegal to sell products that discriminate against palm oil, as a convenience store in Precinct 3 here found out.
Enforcement officers from the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry raided the store and seized RM897.60 worth of ice cream in various flavours, which had the label “No Palm Oil” on their packaging.
Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the raid was conducted at 11.45am yesterday in response to a public complaint lodged with the ministry’s enforcement team.
“All the ice cream products worth RM897.60 have been confiscated for further investigation.
“The case will be investigated under the Trade Descriptions (Prohibition of Use of Statement, Expression or Indication) (Palm Oil and Palm Oil Goods) Regulations 2022,” he said in a statement.
The regulations, which came into force on March 15, 2022, prohibit any person, trade or business, in any advertisement, statement, expression or indication, from discriminating or boycotting any oil palm product or palm oil goods.
It is also an offence to discourage, forbid, hinder or influence any person from using or consuming any oil palm product or palm oil goods.
This would include labels or statements that say “does not contain palm oil” and “free from palm oil”, state the regulations.
If convicted, the party concerned can be fined not more than RM250,000 or imprisoned for a period not exceeding five years.
Palm oil is a major export for Malaysia and the government in recent years has been stepping up its efforts to fight anti-palm oil propaganda from Europe. – May 3, 2024