Wednesday, September 27, 2006

High-5 Bread in Singapore is safe to eat

Recently, I received an email with photos showing the extremely dirty conditions in a bread factory in Malaysia that makes High-5 bread. The photos are widely circulated in emails, online forums, etc. This is what the message in the email says:
High-5 bread's factory is really terrible. Pls don't buy in future.

In summary, the High-5 bread sold here is manufactured in Malaysia.
The local news reported that the factory was recently raided by some Health
Dept officers from the Government sector of Malaysia.
They found the entire premises to be dirty, stench odor and unhealthy
environment; even the bread-making process to be unacceptable by the Health
Dept - no gloves, dirty utensils, etc. See pictures attached!
Here are two of the pictures.





You can view all the pictures on maverickchen's High-5 Factory photoset.

Thank god, I eat Gardenia. With all the publicity surrounding these photos, I'm sure many people will choose not to eat High-5 Bread anymore. Look at the factory. Crikey! Who would want to eat anything coming out from there?

But today, David Tan, Deputy Head from the Food Control Division of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) in Singapore told me that High-5 Bread available here is safe to eat. He said, "The Hi 5 bread available for sale in Singapore is manufactured at Shah Alam, Selangor and is not from the implicated bakery in Nilai, Negri Sembilan which was reported in the Malaysian Press." He added that the bread has been tested and AVA assures everyone that the bread is safe for consumption.

There you have it. Assurance from the government but I bet the damage has already been done and consumers will have second thoughts when they see a High-5 bread on the shelves of the supermarket.

Update: Piecing together the series of events behind the High-5 bread controversy

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Power sia IZ.. like reporter. Anyway I only eat Yakun bread liao.

Anonymous said...

My mum always buy Hi 5 bread. I did not know of the photos until now but well I guess I will still eat the bread since AVA says it is safe. Thanks IZ.

Anonymous said...

"Thank god I eat Gardenia."

lol

Anonymous said...

Spot on IZ. The damage is already done because the brand name will be affected.

Agagooga said...

Malaysia - the Land of Poor Quality!

Anonymous said...

Wait. I think their QA broke down somewhere. Hahahahaha!

Anonymous said...

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

GARDENIA!

Anonymous said...

bloody hell....they didn't pay the cleaners or their staff or what?!!

Anonymous said...

No wonder the Hi 5 bread taste so much nicer in Msia.

Anonymous said...

Malaysia Boleh!!!

Anonymous said...

i prefer sunshine

Anonymous said...

i prefer sunshine

Anonymous said...

Good lord.
That shouldn't be a food factory.

Anonymous said...

best is to make ur own bread!

Anonymous said...

What a big PR disaster for Hi5.

Anonymous said...

even if the hi5 bread in singapore in safe i wldnt buy hi5.

Anonymous said...

High 5 ran an ad in ST denouncing rumourmongers threatening court action.

Anonymous said...

idiots. they don't use gloves cos it'd get stuck in the dough. and they dont use aprons cos they get stuck in the conveyer belts. and the pans are b;ack cos of baking in the oven so many years. use your BRAINS before saying anything. that is. if you have any. and why don't you go visit the factory. high 5 bread town is the total opposite of the bullshit the piictures show. this is so like sabotage from gardenia.

Anonymous said...

I would bet The other companies are no better, i have a friend that worked at a bread company in america and apparently the place was just as dirty.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. It's bad luck for Hi5 to have been busted by the media in this fashion. I've been working in a bread-making firm (I'm not going to reveal its identity) and I must say that the working condition is relatively better (though not as much as the ones compared to the picture). It is true that we do not use gloves as the dough may stick to our hands. Anyway, I hope Silverbird gets to provide a more hygienic workplace for the Hi5 workers to work on. If time permits, maybe we can shift our technological advancements to achieve better hygiene practices. Anyway IZ, your report is quite comprehensive and it may shed some light to many unscrupulous bread making firms whom we may never be aware of.

Anonymous said...

Malaysia ain't the land of poor quality,kay.Speaking of bread,there are even bread artisans which sell sourdough bread.ciabatas etc.There are many high 5 factories in malaysia.judging malaysia by just 1 of all the factories is inappropriate

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