Man spends 1.5 hours eating handmade buns by daughter at JB Checkpoint, worried food not allowed into Singapore

For her father's commute back to Singapore from JB, one thoughtful daughter decided to make him some curry potato buns. 

However, worried that the food would not be allowed into Singapore, this father decided to eat all the five buns instead, so as to not waste his daughter's efforts. 

In a Facebook post on Sunday (Feb 5), the father, who goes by the name Maxkeong Menkeong, explained that his child had been worried that he would get hungry on the way back to Singapore.

But Menkeong claimed he "didn't have the heart" to tell his daughter that the food may not be able to pass through the Singapore land checkpoint during immigration and customs clearance processes. 

Unwilling to let her efforts go to waste, Menkeong planned on eating the buns at Terminal Larkin in JB before returning to Singapore. 

He had only anticipated two to three buns, so imagine his surprise when he opened the lunchbox and discovered five. 

This father then patiently ate all five buns over the course of one and a half hours. It is unclear why he took so long to do so.

"Thank you for having daddy's heart," said Menkeong gratefully at the end of the post. 

In the comments, many netizens praised the child for being so thoughtful toward her father. 

There were also some who pointed out that Menkeong could have actually entered Singapore with the buns, claiming that they have done so with such buns before. 

According to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), those travelling to Singapore can carry food products for personal consumption without obtaining an import permit.

However, this is only allowed if the food is within the maximum allowance, is not for commercial sales and adheres to specific conditions. 

For example, each traveller is allowed to bring in a maximum of 5kg of cooked meat (including cooked food containing meat) as long as they are from approved sources such as countries like Australia and New Zealand.   

However, travellers from Malaysia are not allowed to bring in any form of beef, mutton, pork or poultry meat, even if it is cooked.

Each person is also allowed a maximum of 5kg of seafood products, out of which a maximum of only 2kg of frozen cooked crabmeat and frozen cooked prawn meat is allowed.

However, travellers are also advised to be aware of the risks associated with bringing in and consuming food. 

They should also try to select food products that do not need to be refrigerated, such as biscuits and other heat-processed food rather than perishables and meat products.

AsiaOne has reached out to SFA for their comments. 

Smuggling chicken 

Last year, due to the chicken supply issue, some Singaporeans allegedly started smuggling in fresh chicken from Malaysia. 

At a wet market in Larkin, a chicken seller shared that some regulars from Singapore would cross the border weekly to buy her fresh chicken. 

"Quite a few Singaporeans come with their grocery carts and buy one or two whole chickens each time," she said then.

"One of my regulars wraps it in newspaper, covers it with a layer of vegetables and wraps it again with more newspaper," she said, adding that some of these customers complained about the lack of fresh chicken back home. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com