No shark's fin products at FairPrice by end-March

QX179R SG

SINGAPORE: Shark's fin products will no longer be sold at over 100 FairPrice outlets by the end of March this year.

The retailer will cease selling shark's fin products at all its retail outlets, which include FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra hypermarkets, Cheers and FairPrice Xpress petrol stations, and FairPrice Online.

NTUC FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng told TODAY that it has been looking into the area of shark's fin products for the last few months, "in our commitment to be a socially responsible retailer."

"FairPrice has always focused our efforts on social sustainability by reaching out to the less privileged in the community, helping them to have access to daily needs but, at the same time, we recognise that there are other areas of sustainability such as environmental sustainability that need to be addressed," he said.

FairPrice will no longer be extending new commitments for shark's fin products but will honour current commitments to its suppliers. "In other words, this will be the last Chinese New Year in which customers can buy shark's fin products at all our stores," said Mr Seah.

This announcement comes after an incident in November last year when an employee of Thern Da Seafood, a supplier of shark's fin products to FairPrice, made disparaging remarks about divers who were against shark finning on his Facebook page. This sparked an online protest, with many raising their concerns on the wall of FairPrice's Facebook page.

FairPrice said on its Facebook page on Thursday that all its suppliers are required to clear joint promotional materials and messages before implementation. In this incident, the supplier had not complied with the standing instructions.

Stating that it takes the matter very seriously, FairPrice will be withdrawing all products from Thern Da Seafood across all their stores, it said.

Cold Storage ceased the sale of shark's fin products in October last year. When contacted, a spokesperson for Sheng Siong, which operates 25 stores in Singapore, said that they do not have concrete plans to do so at the moment.

-- TODAY

QX179R SG

Carrefour joins shark fin boycott in Singapore

SINGAPORE: French retail giant Carrefour will halt sales of shark fin products in its Singapore outlets after current stocks run out as a supermarket boycott of the delicacy gains steam, media reported Saturday.

A Carrefour spokesman told the Straits Times it will not replenish its stocks of the environmentally controversial products after they sell out.

The company is the world's second-largest retailer and operates two supermarkets in Singapore's city centre.

It told the paper the decision was made on its own initiative as a socially responsible retailer, but it could not be reached for comment on whether the ban would extend to its other outlets worldwide.

Shark fin remains a sought after delicacy in Singapore, where it is largely served at Chinese festive celebrations and wedding receptions.

According to the conservation group WWF, the city-state is the world's second largest shark fin trading centre after Hong Kong.

WWF-Hong Kong says the consumption of shark fins is a driving factor behind the threat to shark populations, with more than 180 species considered threatened in 2010 compared to only 15 in 1996.

The Carrefour report came a day after Singapore's largest supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice declared it was halting sales of shark fin products.

NTUC FairPrice -- a cooperative run by the city-state's national trades union -- said it would drop the products from April after an inflammatory comment by one of its suppliers attracted a flurry of complaints.

The supplier had said "Screw the divers!" in an online promotional message for a new product to be launched at FairPrice outlets during the upcoming Lunar New Year.

The comment, apparently directed at divers campaigning against the shark fin trade, went viral on Facebook and microblogging site Twitter.

Retailer Cold Storage was the first Singapore chain to stop selling shark fin, which it did in September last year as part of a collaboration with WWF, local media reported.

- AFP/cc

dragg SG

carrefour and cold storage too?

are singaporeans really giving up shark fins?

Dalforce 1941 SG

Why they attack chinese food culture?

Alien stuff never attack, chinese they attack? I think this is wrong.

Firecrackers also banned. Chinese schools also gone, Nan Tah gone, Dialects banned.

Chinese business paper banned.

Dalforce 1941 SG

I reject the NTUC ban on shark fin.

Jacky Woo SG

I reject the NTUC ban on shark fin.

so what are you gonna do about it? why dun u email to the CEO and tell him what you think of this

Dalforce 1941 SG

so what are you gonna do about it? why dun u email to the CEO and tell him what you think of this

What's the deal with the ban?

This announcement comes after an incident in November last year when an employee of Thern Da Seafood, a supplier of shark's fin products to FairPrice, made disparaging remarks about divers who were against shark finning on his Facebook page.

This sparked an online protest, with many raising their concerns on the wall of FairPrice's Facebook page.

FairPrice said on its Facebook page on Thursday that all its suppliers are required to clear joint promotional materials and messages before implementation.

In this incident, the supplier had not complied with the standing instructions.Stating that it takes the matter very seriously, FairPrice will be withdrawing all products from Thern Da Seafood across all their stores, it said.

So they banned shark fin due to some crap in facebook? The ban is on all shark fin or only Thern Da Seafood sharkfin?

Kuali Baba SG

What's the deal with the ban?

This sparked an online protest, with many raising their concerns on the wall of FairPrice's Facebook page.

FairPrice said on its Facebook page on Thursday that all its suppliers are required to clear joint promotional materials and messages before implementation.

So they banned shark fin due to some crap in facebook? The ban is on all shark fin or only Thern Da Seafood sharkfin?

It doesn't even carry Thern Da's stuff. It won't restock shark's fin after the contracts with other suppliers end in March.

I would tell you to look beyond your dinner plate but it'll probably be futile. Name one dish that only caucasians eat that disrupts the food chain like sharks.

dragg SG

are we the major consumers of sharks fins?

how about china. taiwan, malaysia and hong kong etc? dont they consume more than we do considering their population?

charlize SG

People will be people.

No sharks fin, they will find something else to eat and destroy.

Haiz.

βέτά SG

So rich.

I can only eat bee hoon and pretend that it's shark's fin.

Summer hill SG

i like to eat clams.

Kuali Baba SG

So rich.

I can only eat bee hoon and pretend that it's shark's fin.

You can get the vegetarian fins made from agar. They have the same texture and your clients wouldn't know the difference until you tell them. And everyone can enjoy it.

Mr Milo SG

假死的啦。。。好赚头的东西会不要？

dragg SG

i like to eat clams.

i only like pacific clams.

charlize SG

So rich.

I can only eat bee hoon and pretend that it's shark's fin.

You can feel very rich looking at that plate of bee hoon and imagining it to be shark's fin.

βέτά SG

You can feel very rich looking at that plate of bee hoon and imagining it to be shark's fin.

I do that every month to my CPF statement.

Clivebenss SG

I do that every month to my CPF statement.

My CPF dispensing soon.

charlize SG

My CPF dispensing soon.

Wait they change the rules tomorrow and then you will cry.

Clivebenss SG

Wait they change the rules tomorrow and then you will cry.

My CPF always dependable.