Desaru restaurant's RM16 cup of Milo sparks investigation by Johor authorities

A Desaru restaurant has landed itself in hot water with the authorities for charging RM16 (S$4.49) for a cup of hot Milo.

A Facebook user by the name of Emoncs Tay posted a picture of a receipt on Feb 14 from a restaurant in Desaru, Malaysia.

The receipt showed that she was charged RM15.90 for a cup of hot Milo.

The exorbitant price of the drink shocked netizens and the post went viral on Facebook.

One Facebook user commented under Tay's post: "This hot Milo is more expensive than Starbucks."

"Whatever this is, it scares me," another user joked.

Johor KDPN investigating

It also caught the attention of Johor Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN), which launched an investigation into the incident, The Star reported. 

According to a statement by the KPDN's state director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo, initial investigation revealed that the incident occurred at a restaurant located in a beach resort and spa.

Pornomo also told The Star that the investigation will be conducted under Section 21 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act of 2011.

"We need to find out if there are elements of profiteering and whether the price of the goods was displayed," she said.

"If such elements are found, the next step is for us to issue a notice under the same act where the premise owner must explain the matter before we can issue any action," the state director added.

Pornomo has urged members of the public to report any cases of profiteering that they come across directly to the KPDN.

"We hope to be able to investigate [such cases] at an early stage, not when the cases have gone viral," she said

"We need co-operation and to hear the stories from both parties so that we can come up with a fair solution," Pornomo added.

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com