Ministry raids convenience store for selling ‘no palm oil’ ice cream

PUTRAJAYA: A convenience store in Precinct 3 here was raided by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) yesterday, for suspected sale of food products with the words 'No Palm Oil' (NPO) written on the product's plastic packaging.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the raid which started at 11.45am was due to a public complaint received by the KPDN and from the inspection, the raiding team found various flavours of ice cream products with NPO wordings.

"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 today.

If convicted, the party concerned can be fined not more than RM250,000 or imprisoned for a period not exceeding five years.

According to Armizan, the regulations came into force on March 15 2022.

Based on the enforcement statistics from March 15, 2022 until May 2, 2024 under the said legislation, he said a total of 5,057 inspections had been carried out across the country on premises at various levels of the distribution chain and out of that number, KPDN found four cases.

"Strict action will be taken against any importing company, distributor, seller and related parties that sell products imported from abroad that do not comply with relevant legislation," he said.

Armizan said the types of offences include statements in the form of expressions or indications that may discriminate or boycott any products or goods involving the country's main commodity, which is palm oil. - Bernama