NTUC Fairprice, says no to shark fin products
AsianScientist (Jan. 5, 2012) – In an unprecedented move, Singapore's largest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, with a network of more than 230 outlets, has promised to remove shark fin products from its inventory by the first quarter of 2012.
Founded in 1973 by the labor movement, its first outlet was opened by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on July 22 of the same year. NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd has the largest network of outlets under the FairPrice umbrella, such as the FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra, FairPrice Xpress and Cheers convenience stores.
On November 17, 2011, an incendiary comment made by the sales manager of Thern Da Seafood Pte. Ltd., Chris Lee Aik Chye sparked an online protest by many conservationists who voiced their concerns on NTUC Fairprice's Facebook wall.
Lee made disparaging remarks on his Facebook wall directed at divers who were against shark finning, mocking them for being unable to stop his company from supplying NTUC Fairprice with shark fin and Mola mola products in the upcoming Chinese New Year season.
(Above) Screenshot of Thern Da Seafood Sales Manager Chris Lee's LinkedIn account. (Below) Inflammatory remarks made on Chris Lee's Facebook wall which led to NTUC ceasing its relationship with Thern Da Seafood.
Thern Da is a supplier of shark fin and ocean sun fish (Mola mola) products to NTUC Fairprice. At the time of this publication, Thern Da's Facebook page has either been deleted or protected from public viewing.
After investigating the matter, NTUC Fairprice today issued a public statement on its Facebook wall, promising to cease the sale of shark fin products by the first quarter of 2012.
"Thank you everyone for your comments and for alerting us to this matter. As a standing instruction, all our suppliers are required to clear their joint promotional materials and messages with us before implementation. In this incident, the supplier had not complied with our standing instruction. We take this matter very seriously and we are withdrawing all products from Thern Da Seafood across all our stores.
Sustainability is important to FairPrice and we have been relooking various policies in our commitment to be a socially responsible retailer. The sale of shark fin has been one of the areas that we have been looking into in the past few months. We are pleased to announce that we will cease the sale of shark fin products by the first quarter of this year. This is to ensure that we honour our current commitments to our partners but will no longer be placing new orders for shark fin products."
The company, which has raised its eco-friendly profile in the past few years, launched Singapore's first 'eco-friendly' supermarket at City Square Mall with 100 percent biodegradable shopping bags, non-toxic paint on walls, recycled store fixtures, and energy-saving light-bulbs.
On the NTUC website, the company pledged "To be the leading responsible retailer, caring and doing the right things for our customers, our staff, our community and our environment," and carried a statement from its CEO on the company's social responsibility code.
"FairPrice has always strived to incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility into our business operations," said Mr. Tan Kian Chew, Group Chief Executive Officer, NTUC FairPrice.
The removal of shark fin products comes on the heels of another large supermarket chain, Cold Storage Singapore, which announced in October 2011 that it would be the first supermarket chain in Singapore to implement a "no shark fins policy."
A few weeks earlier on December 19, 2011, 100 Chinese organisations signed a 2012 "Zero Shark Fins At Reunion Dinner (年饭零鱼翅)" pledge. Signatories include Tencent Inc., China's largest internet portal, and celebrities such as singer Karen Mok, actress Shu Qi, actor Chapman To, and basketball star Yao Ming.
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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: SharkTruth.com.
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