"AN EATERY in Jurong East selling 'dog meat' has raised the
hackles of netizens after a photo of the menu was posted in online
forums on Sunday .
The restaurant's owner Song Yu Ran, 39, who is from China, told
The Straits Times that the two dishes are actually made from pig
innards.
He has been selling them - to offer something unusual to
customers - since the outlet opened three years ago.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said
it was investigating and had taken samples of meat from the
70-seater eatery for testing.
The import of dog meat is illegal in Singapore and there are no
licensed premises for the slaughter of dogs here. If convicted, the
offender faces a fine of up to $10,000 or 12 months' imprisonment
or both, for each charge.
In an e-mail statement last night, AVA said: 'Welfare is a major
consideration during the treatment and handling of live animals. In
the case of slaughter, AVA accepts only internationally acceptable
humane methods. There is no known humane method of slaughtering
dogs for human consumption.'
The menu at the Song Hua Jiang restaurant features the two 'dog
meat' dishes with photos.
The English descriptions read: braised dog meat with tofu and
dry cabbage, and dog meat tripe in sauce.
The Chinese words indicate that it is not real dog meat only for
the second dish. The phrase used is sai gou rou, which means
something similar or comparable to dog meat.
Pictures of the menu are believed to have first popped up in the
hardwarezone.com forum, garnering almost 600 comments as of
yesterday evening.
In the pictures circulating online, the braised item is labelled
as 'dog meat' in both languages.
Mr Song said the Chinese text for that dish had a typographical
error and the English translation was inaccurate because he was not
familiar with the language.
However, he stressed that he explains to any customer who orders
the dish that it is not real dog meat.
The braised dish costs $14 and the tripe item is $8. He said
about 40 plates each are sold a week.
He added that staff had pasted stickers on the menu to block out
the erroneous text some time ago but perhaps some of the stickers
had dropped off.
Netizens have also posted comments on the Facebook page of
animal rights group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society
(Acres), with many calling for investigations.
When The Straits Times visited the restaurant yesterday
afternoon, two representative from Acres were there as well.
They had sat at a table and asked to see the menu. Mr Song
promptly asked if they were there about the 'dog meat' issue. He
asked them to speak to him directly and not to pretend to be
customers.
A visibly aggrieved Mr Song said he has been hounded by calls,
with many coming in the middle of the night.
'They can lodge a complaint against me if I have done something
wrong but they should not be yelling at me if they haven't got
their facts right,' he said.
He filed a complaint with the police yesterday evening regarding
the calls.
Acres has since posted information on its Facebook page saying
that the owner had explained that the dish was actually pork.
Though The Straits Times had heard Mr Song explain to the Acres
representatives why he had used the words 'dog meat', the post also
said: 'The owner, however, could not properly explain why he listed
it as dog meat rather than just stating it as pork.'
When asked about this later, Acres executive director Louis Ng
said: 'We wrote this because we felt that if the public is told
that the eatery just wanted to have an unusual item for patrons to
try, it will anger more people.'
Acres later followed up with an e-mail message that stated: 'We
are not saying that the owner did not explain his point to us...
but... we felt this was not a proper explanation.'
Mr Ng added that Acres will be appealing to AVA to carry out
further investigations.
Mr Song told The Straits Times that the eatery had been checked
by AVA several times over the last three years when patrons had
complained about the 'dog meat' on the menu.
He said AVA had on those occasions found that the meat was pork
and told him only to block out the text on the menu.
He added that he did not remove the items from the menu because
he wanted to promote an alternative for Chinese nationals who enjoy
dog meat.
'I don't encourage people to eat dog meat because I think that
is cruel and inhumane. I am trying to provide an alternative for
people who have a taste for the dish,' said Mr Song, who likened
the items to mock meat sold in vegetarian restaurants.
His eatery, which serves north-eastern Chinese cuisine, gets a
mix of Chinese-national and Singaporean customers.
Mr Song has lived here for eight years with his wife and
14-year-old daughter. They are now Singapore citizens but he said
he would consider moving abroad
after this incident.
'I am a law-abiding, contributing Singaporean trying to run a
business here and it makes me sad that I am being attacked this
way,' he added. "
YES YES BALEK KAMPUNG IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!!!!!
