Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg
Talk about one man's meat being another man's poison: A HDB resident has taken to Facebook to complain about his neighbour one floor upstairs for hanging slabs of juicy pork belly outside the flat's kitchen window to dry.
In his Facebook post in the Complaint Singapore group, the irate neighbour questioned why would anyone do this and if the household upstairs was putting the meat out to dry with the aim of selling them, given the copious amounts of meat on display.
There were, according to the three photos, at least seven slabs of pork belly hung outside the kitchen window, even as the clothes rack was lined with laundry that were also put out to dry.
Leaving meat out to dry
This process of leaving meat out to dry, usually with the aid of salt, is to draw the moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis.
Drying the meat can be part of the marinating process to make the meat's flavours more intense upon cooking.
Inconsiderate to Muslim neighbours
Some comments left on the post highlighted not only the unsanitary act that can draw insects and even birds, but also the potential issues.
These include the insensitivity displayed towards Muslim neighbours, who might be living above or below the flat hanging out the pork.
Although not mentioned in the man's post directly, the stench of meat left out to dry can be nauseating.
Beach Road incident
Previously, in December 2018, raw slices of meat were left out to dry in the Beach Road area in Singapore by one household as part of the process of making meat jerky.
The practice had supposedly gone on for years, and the stench from the meat had been prevalent as neighbours interviewed all said they had caught a whiff of it whenever there was a breeze.
The meat was not only left out in the sun to dry in the open, but the process was even hastened as the meat was left right in front of air conditioner compressors and exposed to dust.
The meat jerky was then reportedly sold for consumption at the nearby Golden Mile Complex.
Yishun incident
In March 2020, Nee Soon Town Council had to request a family in Yishun to stop hanging meat on the laundry rack as it resulted in foul smells that neighbours picked up.
A Nee Soon Town Council spokesperson said then: "In view of public health and hygiene, we would also like to take the chance to remind residents not to hang any food items on the laundry rack.”