MUIS Says Starbucks S'pore Hasn’t Applied For Halal Cert, Tells It To Remove Pet Ban Sign
The coffee chain recently came under fire after a viral social media post showed a sign displayed at its East Coast Park outlet, which suggested pets would be banned as part of halal certification plans.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) has clarified it has not received any halal certification application from Starbucks Singapore to date.
In a statement released on Thursday (May 14), MUIS also said it has told the coffee chain to remove or amend the signage referring to its transition towards halal certification or any reference to it, after a Facebook post that went viral showed a sign suggesting pets would be banned as part of halal certification plans.
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“Such representations can mislead the public”
“MUIS takes a serious view of this matter. Any reference to halal certification status, preparations towards halal certification, or an ongoing halal application process prior to halal certification approval is strictly not permitted,” said a MUIS spokesperson.
“Such representations can mislead the public and may constitute a breach of MUIS Halal Certification Conditions (HCC).”
MUIS has also instructed the coffee chain to “cease all unauthorised references to halal certification status or application progress across all public-facing communications and materials."
Starbucks Singapore was also told to review and rectify all related public communications, including social media and in-store materials.
The MUIS statement comes after a Facebook post, shared on Monday (May 11), went viral. The post shared a sign displayed at the coffee chain’s Parkland Green outlet at East Coast Park, stating that “From May 25, 2026, pets will no longer be permitted in our indoor and outdoor seating areas” as part of a "transition towards halal-certified operations". The sign added that guide dogs would still be allowed.
The Facebook user who shared the image criticised the notice, calling it “absolutely ridiculous and dumb” and saying they would "boycott all Starbucks Singapore outlets".
The post drew mixed reactions. Some commenters on the post supported the idea of restricting pets, noting that businesses have the right to set their own policies. Others, including some Muslim commenters, said they had no issue with pets being present in outdoor cafe settings.
Starbucks apologises
In response to the Facebook post, Starbucks Singapore had released a statement on Wednesday (May 13), clarifying that there are no changes to its pet-friendly policy, following confusion sparked by the post.
Starbucks Singapore said it “apologises for any confusion caused by our earlier communication” and clarified that “in the meantime, there are no changes to our current store operations, and pets will continue to be welcome on our premises”.
In response to whether they will be making all their outlets halal-certified, the coffee chain also stated that the company "will share updates as they become available".
According to its website, Starbucks Singapore currently has 29 pet-friendly outlets, including locations at Jurong Lake Gardens, Bird Paradise and Sentosa Sensoryscape.
Source: CNA/iz
The original version of this story first appeared in CNA Lifestyle.
For more CNA Lifestyle stories, visit https://www.cnalifestyle.com.
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