When The Price of Fresh Orange Butter Chicken Hits the Strangest Cup of Coffee
What Really Happened
Just before Malaysia slapped a chicken‑ban on June 1st, a photo of a “SB Whole Chicken” posted around the 31st smack‑dried with the FairPrice logo went viral. It looked suspiciously like a single, hefty bird weighing 3.212 kg. The price tag littered it at a staggering $22.50 per kilogram—a figure that made even the most seasoned Singaporean foodies gasp, because normal market prices hover around four to five bucks a kilo.
Why Did Everyone Think it Was a Turkey?
- “Is this a turkey?”—a quick tweet by a cynical forum user on Hardwarezone.
- Some suspect the photo was doctored to twist the chicken saga. Others point to a likely “weighing scale error,” recalling the supermarket’s past fuss over scale reliability.
- In the age of photo‑editing, the hat‑throwing crusade was inevitable.
FairPrice’s “We’re Sorry, We’re Not Apologizing” Repair Attempt
On Thursday evening, FairPrice posted a Facebook clarification. Its key takeaways? The packet actually contains two whole birds from the premium Swiss Butchery stall inside a FairPrice unit.
Quoted from the post:
“The image of the product label is an organic kampung chicken sold at one of our concessionaire counters operated by Swiss Butchery. This product is priced at $22.50/kg (per the label’s packed date on 31 May 2022). Two whole birds were bundled together, weighed and priced under the same label.”
And they ended with a hopeful “We…hope this helps dispel any possible misunderstandings.”
Does the Clarification Solves the Mystery?
Kocha hashtags, comments, and shared stories 492 times in just four hours—1,300 likes and a flood of questions. Netizens split into two camps:
- The “I’m Appalled” Legion: Tweets from Angela Lau and Audrey Chen expressed that the price seemed insane even for a premium organic bird.
- The “Do Not Worry” Squad: Averil Chan, among others, nudged, “Why do you owe the public an explanation? Buy it if you want; otherwise, ignore it.”
Why Premium Organic “Kampung” Chickens Cost More
- Feeding only organic feed—no animal by-products, antibiotics, or genetically engineered grains.
- Avoiding the use of persistent pesticides or chemical fertilisers.
- Allowing birds to roam free, not caged.
All elements contribute to the price spike, but $22.50 per kilo still feels like a comedy of errors for a simple chicken.
The Bigger Picture
Singapore’s grocery shelves have been feeling the pinch since Malaysia’s export ban took off, which inflated many local chicken prices. Straits Times had asked FairPrice what the price was before the ban—the question was still fresh when the shop sent its apology posts.
Bottom line: a fancy label, a high price tag; a then‑published article in Straits Times and an now‑eyebrow‑raising story that reminded us how the food market can turn into a circus if you juggle too many prices at once.
