We have a long way to go. By this I mean in being transparent. Funny how it is, transparency being the catchword here. It is not only bandied about in the political realm but nevertheless also glaringly absent where local products are concerned. Yes, I am griping again about local products. It seems to me that local manufacturers of consumer goods are out to take us for a ride, no – not in their Bentleys or Maybachs but to outright con you out of your hardearned cash. Read on :
1.Have you ever observed that weights of local products are well nigh invisible or so inconspicous that you have to turn the package over a few times before you can see the indicated weight – very often hidden among other text pertaining to the item or printed in non-contrasting colours in tiny fonts that is very difficult to discern without a magnifying glass. It is not some oversight but a devious measure to confuse you and make you unable to compare weights vis-a-vis price among competing brands. Guilty product lines include biscuits, noodles, confectionery, etc. Cunning, isn't it? This phenomenon is not seen in imported products- their weights and volumes being conspicously displayed on the frontal panels of the packages most of the time. Our locally based manufacturers must take us for fools – well, not me. A quick mental calculation will quickly show that the local product is not cheap at all when compared to the imported item – more so especially considering the better quality of the imported product.
2.Labelling sins are aplenty in local products. Take for example - toothpaste. How come the government is unable to compel manufacturers to list the ingredients used in their concoctions? Why do the local manufacturere resist the compulsion to list the ingredients? Is it because you wouldn't dare put toothpaste in your mouth if you know what horrendous chemicals go into that innocuous paste? I believe I have hit the nail on the head. Because of the failure to make the listing of ingredients mandatory, some time ago a big muckety-muck actually went on to advise consumers to use only a small bead of toothpaste each time, not the long swathe you see in the commercials.
3.Another labelling sin is listing ingredients as `approved flavoring'; `spices'; `vegetable oil'. The educated consumer wants to know what kind of flavoring, what types of spices, what type of oil is used in the product that he is consuming. Please don't insult our intelligence by hiding behind such catch-all phrases or citing `trade secrets'. God only knows what else has not been disclosed in such lists! This is why contamination by substances such as the recent melamine scare can occur. Manufactories usually have laboratories, so what the heck are the staff doing? Just mucking around and passing time?
4.At a time when most people are concerned about hypertension or elevated blood pressure, listing the sodium content is vital to enable consumers to make sensible choices. But no, sodium levels are never stated in local products. It is probably so high that you would be scared off buying it in the first place, to say nothing of eating it. Is it so difficult to analyse and list the actual sodium levels in the products? Or is it because our legislation has no provision for such practice? Sometimes, you wonder what our exalted wakil rakyat are doing in parliament.
5.Some manufacturers actually try to obsfucate or outright bluff the uninitiated. Some instant noodle packaging proudly proclaim `no msg' or monosodium glutamate. People may be misled into thinking that it is a better product but look closer at the ingredient listing and you will see disodium inosinate or disodium guanylate being declared as permitted flavor enhancers. For all we know, these substitutes may be actually worse than msg, but the local manufacturers will never tell us. Some overseas government agencies actually classify instant noodles as hazardous food and discourage its consumption.
6.The widespread use of monosodium glutamate in food products is exploited as a
shortcut in making it palatable. Msg is not needed at all if effort has been invested into the recipe or concoction. Look at imported items – how many can you find msg being listed therein as an ingredient? You would be hard put to find even one, yet the products actually tasted better. At the same time, you also wouldn't see the imported item trumpeting that it is `msg free'. There is no such need if your recipe is up to scratch.Msg is actually seen as hazardous to health in developed countries.
7.Cholesterol. A so-called reputable brand of cream crackers (locally made) listed its ingredients followed by the nutrient/mineral breakdown figures - among them were cholesterol = 0, but there was no mention of sodium at all. Listing cholesterol levels as zero is a bad joke, any school kid can tell you there is no cholesterol if you don't use ingredients of animal origin. I also saw a brand of cooking oil (palm oil) proudly declaring 'cholesterol free'. At the same time, saturated fat levels were conveniently ignored. Our intelligence is being severely insulted here. Either that or perhaps they just didn't know better. I wonder.
8.Preservatives. `No preservatives!' - Proudly proclaims a label. Hey, waddaya take us consumers for, eh? Fools, what? The labels goes on to list sugar, salt and oil among its ingredients. Come on – sugar, salt and oil are all preservatives, doesn't the manufacturer know this? If what it is really trying to say is there are no artificial preservatives in the product, then it should be more specific. It actually ends up making a fool of itself.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Shortchanged, as usual
Tread softly and carry a big calculator. Traders are always out to make you part with your money. The quest to being wise consumers is not easy, not without the gahmen looking after us. It is every man for his own, learn to be wise or perish. Malaysians always seem to get the short end of the stick every which way life goes. Perhaps the old saw that a sucker is born every minute really does ring true.
The following are scams I can see in this country:
1.Eggs- A sized eggs are not really A size in classification. I have seen A sized eggs in Singapore that look substantially bigger than those in Malaysia. Compared to these , our local A eggs are at best called C size. I wonder how this can happen as most of the eggs sold in Singapore comes from farms in Malaysia. Ah, must be the stronger currency from down south.
Are the so-called Omega rich eggs really worth the extra money? At over 50sen each,
they are are terribly expensive. What's more, they are puny in size; more like C-size
eggs. Break one into your frying pan and see what I mean. Two 'genuine' A eggs fill up a 9inch pan whereas 2 Omega eggs barely fill half of it. I understand that the orangish
yolk colour is derived from feeding the layers with carotene rich feedmeal such as
those made from oil palm waste. It is probably this vibrant yolk colour that make
consumers think they are really better than the plain yellow of ordinary eggs. Costing
more than 50sen a pop, these eggs really cost as much as 80sen for a regular A sized
ordinary egg (based on egg volume), that is a whopping 60% more.
Is it worth it? Make your choice wisely. I prefer the ordinary eggs, freshness being the more important factor.
2,Fried chicken. Chicken prices are high now, so fast food restaurants try to balance out by using smaller birds. Any sized chicken will yield 8 parts; so will a sparrow. I noticed that fried chicken parts are much bigger down south than in Malaysia- I thought there was supposed to be a specified minimum size to be used. Profiteering rears its ugly head again. Better to spend a little time and effort to fry your own chicken parts especially if you have a large family, no sense in enriching the fast food chains. By the way, the same company who holds the franchise for both Malaysia and its southern neighbouring country; serves much larger pieces in the latter place, why the discrepancy God only knows. Malaysians are such pathetic suckers that they don't know better?
3.Rice – cooked rice that is. Economy rice stalls usually sell the rice at rm1 per serving. Consider that they usually only the cheapest grade of local rice (with 10-15% broken grains) that costs at most rm2.50 a kilogram which yields at least 10 plates costing 25sen each – cooked rice must be the most profitable item in the whole menu. Just imagine- a 300% profit (on cost) margin! Economy rice is a misnomer, it ain't no longer economical – what used to be a poor man's meal has become unaffordable to a lot of people. Just don't make the mistake of ladling too much food onto your plate or you will end up paying through your nose!
This is probably why most women who tar-pau for their families will only buy cooked vegetables and meat dishes without rice, certainly cheaper to cook the rice at home. But hey, it is even cheaper by far to cook everything at home; lotsa recipes on the internet. So learn to cook, ok Honey?
4.Burgers. 'our burgers are the cheapest in the world' – trumpeted by a burger chain.
Hogwash and balderdash – just plain bullshit. Of course it is the cheapest, why shouldn't it be?. Just look at the paper thin meat patty, the small bun, the miserable slab of “cheese' – I'd be surprised if it wasn't the cheapest. Perhaps they forgot to proclaim that it is also the worst tasting burger around. Even the roadside burger stalls can often serve up a better version than this well known burger chain. Yet, the joints are often full at mealtimes – got kong thau ar? I probably eat there once a year, which I think is one time too many. I wonder how the local franchisee gets away with cutting corners to such an extent, after all the master franchisor has set standards for all its overseas operations. Well, wink & nudge – Malaysia Boleh!
5.Roti canai. Or roti paratha as it is known down south. It sells for 80sen at most mamak shops, no big deal when considering just the price itself. But it is small, mind you. I remember eating roti canai that were as big as the plate it came on, costs just 15sen apiece.. Now it is just a shadow of itself. Recently there was an article about a malay cooperative restaurant in KL selling a roti canai for only 40sen and a teh tarik for 60sen, a veritable breakfast for only rm1. The proprietor claimed he could get a 100% profit on the roti as production cost is only 20sen a piece. Just imagine the mamak shops selling the same thingy at 80sen, a 300% profit margin on cost alone! If this is not excessive profiteering, then I don't know what else to call it. A last gripe at the damnable roti canai – did you notice that they always give the same little miserable platter of kuah (gravy) whether you asked for 1,2 or 3 pcs of roti? You always have to ask for more – just don't get your noggin rapped in the process!
Shortchanged as usual, what else is new, huh?
The following are scams I can see in this country:
1.Eggs- A sized eggs are not really A size in classification. I have seen A sized eggs in Singapore that look substantially bigger than those in Malaysia. Compared to these , our local A eggs are at best called C size. I wonder how this can happen as most of the eggs sold in Singapore comes from farms in Malaysia. Ah, must be the stronger currency from down south.
Are the so-called Omega rich eggs really worth the extra money? At over 50sen each,
they are are terribly expensive. What's more, they are puny in size; more like C-size
eggs. Break one into your frying pan and see what I mean. Two 'genuine' A eggs fill up a 9inch pan whereas 2 Omega eggs barely fill half of it. I understand that the orangish
yolk colour is derived from feeding the layers with carotene rich feedmeal such as
those made from oil palm waste. It is probably this vibrant yolk colour that make
consumers think they are really better than the plain yellow of ordinary eggs. Costing
more than 50sen a pop, these eggs really cost as much as 80sen for a regular A sized
ordinary egg (based on egg volume), that is a whopping 60% more.
Is it worth it? Make your choice wisely. I prefer the ordinary eggs, freshness being the more important factor.
2,Fried chicken. Chicken prices are high now, so fast food restaurants try to balance out by using smaller birds. Any sized chicken will yield 8 parts; so will a sparrow. I noticed that fried chicken parts are much bigger down south than in Malaysia- I thought there was supposed to be a specified minimum size to be used. Profiteering rears its ugly head again. Better to spend a little time and effort to fry your own chicken parts especially if you have a large family, no sense in enriching the fast food chains. By the way, the same company who holds the franchise for both Malaysia and its southern neighbouring country; serves much larger pieces in the latter place, why the discrepancy God only knows. Malaysians are such pathetic suckers that they don't know better?
3.Rice – cooked rice that is. Economy rice stalls usually sell the rice at rm1 per serving. Consider that they usually only the cheapest grade of local rice (with 10-15% broken grains) that costs at most rm2.50 a kilogram which yields at least 10 plates costing 25sen each – cooked rice must be the most profitable item in the whole menu. Just imagine- a 300% profit (on cost) margin! Economy rice is a misnomer, it ain't no longer economical – what used to be a poor man's meal has become unaffordable to a lot of people. Just don't make the mistake of ladling too much food onto your plate or you will end up paying through your nose!
This is probably why most women who tar-pau for their families will only buy cooked vegetables and meat dishes without rice, certainly cheaper to cook the rice at home. But hey, it is even cheaper by far to cook everything at home; lotsa recipes on the internet. So learn to cook, ok Honey?
4.Burgers. 'our burgers are the cheapest in the world' – trumpeted by a burger chain.
Hogwash and balderdash – just plain bullshit. Of course it is the cheapest, why shouldn't it be?. Just look at the paper thin meat patty, the small bun, the miserable slab of “cheese' – I'd be surprised if it wasn't the cheapest. Perhaps they forgot to proclaim that it is also the worst tasting burger around. Even the roadside burger stalls can often serve up a better version than this well known burger chain. Yet, the joints are often full at mealtimes – got kong thau ar? I probably eat there once a year, which I think is one time too many. I wonder how the local franchisee gets away with cutting corners to such an extent, after all the master franchisor has set standards for all its overseas operations. Well, wink & nudge – Malaysia Boleh!
5.Roti canai. Or roti paratha as it is known down south. It sells for 80sen at most mamak shops, no big deal when considering just the price itself. But it is small, mind you. I remember eating roti canai that were as big as the plate it came on, costs just 15sen apiece.. Now it is just a shadow of itself. Recently there was an article about a malay cooperative restaurant in KL selling a roti canai for only 40sen and a teh tarik for 60sen, a veritable breakfast for only rm1. The proprietor claimed he could get a 100% profit on the roti as production cost is only 20sen a piece. Just imagine the mamak shops selling the same thingy at 80sen, a 300% profit margin on cost alone! If this is not excessive profiteering, then I don't know what else to call it. A last gripe at the damnable roti canai – did you notice that they always give the same little miserable platter of kuah (gravy) whether you asked for 1,2 or 3 pcs of roti? You always have to ask for more – just don't get your noggin rapped in the process!
Shortchanged as usual, what else is new, huh?
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