Daily TribuneBakers made a killing during the Christmas holiday due to the high demand for cakes.
In Muslim-dominated Malaysia, however, there was confusion among bakers about writing "Merry Christmas" on the cakes as the government has banned the greeting for not being "halal," with violators punished with the revocation of their certifications as vendors of food for Muslims.
Berry's Cake House had to publicly apologize for instructing its workers, through an emailed memorandum on 16 December, not to write "Xmas" or "Merry Christmas" on their cakes, even if clients specifically requested it, the New Straits Times reported.
The memo was posted on social media and elicited an uproar, prompting the Minister of the Department of Religious Affairs, Datuk Dr. Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, to clarify that the memo was false.
Mokhtar said there were no restrictions imposed on halal certificate holders to write holiday greetings on cakes.
The Malaysian Islamic Development Department posted on its Facebook page that halal certificate holders faced no such restrictions, including any celebratory greetings on cakes or similar items, according to NST.
In Japan, department store chain Takashimaya issued a public apology after something went wrong with 800 of 3,000 Christmas cakes it sold.
"We would like to apologize deeply for the deformation of our frozen Christmas cakes that betrayed the expectations of many of our customers," Takashimaya senior official Kazuhisa Yokoyama told a nationally televised news conference, Agence France-Presse reported.
The apology was in response to irate consumers' social media rants accompanied by pictures of crumbled strawberry-topped cakes that Takashimaya's couriers delivered to their doorsteps.
The store said customers may be reimbursed for the cakes, priced at 5,400 yen, depending on delivery conditions, according to AFP.
Takashimaya "couldn't identify a cause" for the cakes' collapse as temperature management was not the issue, so it launched an investigation into its production and distribution operation.
WJG with AFP @tribunephl_wjg
