The Star, Malaysia : Danger in exotic food

Friday, August 23, 2002

Danger in exotic food

By LAM LI

JOHOR BARU: One man’s meat is another man’s poison, so the saying goes.

While some would travel miles and burn their pockets just to savour the meat of exotic and rare animals, others find such culinary penchant “plain disgusting and cruel,” especially when protected animals end up in cooking pots.

There is no shortage of restaurants serving exotic food here. In fact, the business thrives from the patronage of locals and Singaporeans.

During weekends along Jalan Maju – one of the more popular areas for exotic animal food – flashy cars would line the streets as diners sought out the many shops with signboards showing the animals that were on the cooking pot.

There were invitations to savour deep-fried squirrel, gung bao flying fox (bat), claypot civet, wild boar curry and python broth.

That’s just to mention a few. Special orders of the “more difficult-to-get animals” are also available from the shops. While most of the restaurants serve “legal” meat, there were others which could dish out a chow of leopard or tiger soup if one knew how and where to ask for them.

Normally, the operators would only trust regular clients who make advance orders and pay upfront for the “rare order.”

This was to reduce risks of being caught red-handed by enforcement officers posing as customers.

One exotic food enthusiast, who wanted to be known only as Kong, said he was once invited to a restaurant to sample a dish of bear’s paw – a delicacy once served in the palace of ancient China.

It cost about RM800 just to secure the “basic ingredient” for the dish.

“To get the dish ready, you have to pay easily RM1,000 because it involves tedious cooking procedures and between six and eight hours of cooking with expensive ingredients.

“I was really tempted to try but I backed out at the last minute, as I thought the paw was not good for my high blood pressure.”

State Wildlife Department deputy director Ismail Mamat said there were some 300 licensed exotic food restaurants in Johor, scattered in various towns, including Pagoh, Muar, Yong Peng and Kluang.

He said operators pay RM100 for an annual permit. They were required to keep detailed records of their supplies and sales for the reference of enforcement officers during spot checks.

“The operators can only source their supplies from licensed hunters, who have to observe the specified hunting season to ensure the animals’ breeding cycles are not disturbed.

“Restaurateurs are informed of the prohibited sale of protected animals but some have found ways to evade enforcement by keeping illegal supplies outside of their restaurants so they would not be traced during raids.

“The other problem is that the meat will have been processed – skinned and chopped up – so we will face difficulties to prove that the animal in the cooking pot actually belongs to a tiger, leopard or some other protected species.”

Early this year, the latest technology such as DNA testing was suggested to help enforcement officers prove their case but the proposal is still being studied.

Operators have to abide by the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 where those in possession of protected animals faced fines of between RM5,000 and RM15,000, jail terms of between five and 10 years, or both, depending on the species in question.

Sourcing supplies from unlicensed hunters and failure to keep proper records may result in fines of up to RM2,000 or a jail term of up to a year or both.

Ismail said public awareness was important to keep protected animals from landing on dinner tables, as zero demand would kill the chain of supply.