Compiled by C. ARUNO, NAN HIDAYAT NAN AZMIE and R. ARAVINTHAN
A RESTAURANT owner in Henan, China, smashed 600 ceramic plates as online users questioned their cleanliness after a customer brought their pet dog to dine there, Sin Chew Daily reported.
Quoting The Beijing News, the daily reported that the incident took place on March 17 when a customer brought his pet dog to the restaurant. He filmed the pooch sitting beside the table and uploaded it on social media.
The video triggered a heated debate online, with many netizens raising concerns that the dog may have contaminated the restaurant’s tableware.
This was despite the restaurant owner, surnamed Jiang, explaining that the dog had not touched any plates or eaten any food.
Following the barrage of criticism, Jiang decided to eliminate all hygiene-related concerns by smashing all 600 of the restaurant’s ceramic plates, worth a total of 9,000 yuan (RM5,165), on video using a hammer.
She also switched to using disposable utensils and disinfected the premises to placate the critics.
Even though the dog’s owner later apologised after finding out what Jiang had done, she said she did not blame him.
Following the incident, online users are now criticising Jiang for “overreacting”.
> The sharp rise in fertiliser prices following the conflict in the Middle East could threaten food security in the region, according to an industry player, China Press reported.
Lau Choon Xian, the CEO of fertiliser manufacturer Twin Arrow Group, said prices of sulphur rose more than threefold from US$200 (RM792) per tonne to US$700 (RM2,772) recently.
Urea prices nearly doubled from US$400 (RM1,584) per tonne before the conflict to US$720 (RM2,850).
Following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, ships carrying raw materials for fertilisers now have to take a longer route to reach their destination, Lau said, adding that this translates to shipment delays and higher transportation costs.
The situation is exacerbated by rising fuel prices and hoarding of raw materials by industry players expecting further instability in the coming months, he said.
Due to rising prices and a shortage of fertilisers in the market, Lau explained that farmers are forced to resort to low-grade substitutes and change their fertilisation schedules. This could be detrimental to the yield of durian, oil palm and vegetables, all of which rely on precise fertilisation schedules, he said.
Lau urged closer government- private collaboration to ensure food security.
He added that Malaysia’s fertiliser market is entering a phase of high volatility, which can only be weathered through supply chain restructuring, technological advancement and strong collaboration among industry players.
The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
