Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad, the operator of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) has rejected the majority of allegations - in particular by DAP's Tony Pua - that 1Malaysia products in its stores are higher priced and of lower quality.
Mydin managing director Ameer Ali Mydin was flanked by suppliers of all the disputed products and technical personnel armed with the respective laboratory reports to back his argument at a 90-minute press conference held at a Kelana Jaya store this afternoon
Ameer said only one of more than 10 allegations hurled by Pua - the DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP - was valid.
He conceded that Pua was correct about the misleading label on theoyster sauce product.
The sauce should be labelled as “oyster-flavoured sauce” because it contains no natural oyster extract. The product has since been taken off the shelves and the supplier has been told to rectify the shortcoming.
However, he called Pua "unfair" to his suppliers and said he was "hitting below the belt" in respect of the other allegations.
Ameer claimed that Pua’s allegations were unfounded and "half true" because he had either compared the wrong products of different qualities and categories, or cited the wrong laws.
"Before you blame people, learn first or go to school... before you say something," he said of the Oxford graduate.
Response to E Coli allegations
Responding to the staggering allegation that fresh milk sold in KR1M was contaminated by E Coli, Corakmas, a government-owned milk supplier located at Alor Gajah, Melaka, denied this vehemently by producing the lab test reports from the Veterinary Department which confirmed that the milk was free from bacteria contamination.
Ameer echoed this, saying that his company had received no complains on the milk since it was on the shelves five months before.
He attributed the lab result obtained by Pua which detected E Coliin the milk to negligence in handling the product after buying it from the shop.
On the withdrawal of the milk from the KR1M shelves, he explained that the sales were so good that the factory has to halt production for two weeks to upgrade its capacity in order to meet the high demand.
The technical personnel and supplier also claimed that Pua has cited the wrong provisions or mistakenly categorised the products when accusing the 1Malaysia products of breaching the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985.
Reiterating the statement of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Ameer stressed that the comparison done by Pua was unfair as he singled out the products of Carrefour Big Saver which are of lower quality, and not the Carrefour Brand which are of compatible quality with 1Malaysia products.
To prove his argument, two tables full of products from KR1M and Carrefour were shown to the media to observe their colour, appearance and size, proving that the quality of 1Malaysia products are compatible with those of Carrefour Brand which are generally priced higher.
Ameer also showed photocopies of receipts of several products bought from Carrefour the day after Pua’s press conference, including toilet tissue, sweetened creamer, minced beef, french fries and carbonated drinks to prove that they were sold at prices higher that those claimed by the opposition.
The irate businessman accused the parliamentarian of attempting to “kill” KR1M and stop the consumers from buying cheaper goods, which is something he “cannot understand”.
However, Ameer revealed that the accusation by Pua has not only failed to sway away KR1M customers, but the weekly sales volume has increased 14 percent from RM188,000 to RM214,000.
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