When it comes to the dietary laws of Islam, pork is strictly forbidden in line with rulings in the Koran, similar to the dietary laws of Jews.
As such, in countries which have large Muslim populations, such as the U.K. and other countries in Europe , supermarket chains are usually extremely careful to label Halal products clearly.
However, sometimes mistakes are made — and this time, the mistake is a huge one, as one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.K., Aldi, has inadvertently been selling food products marked with the familiar Halal stamp that contain not only pig’s blood, but also pig skin!
The products under scrutiny are the Indian style Punjab Pakora black pudding dish, as well as the Punjab Pakora Haggis product.
One outraged Muslim customer, Manahil Khan , ranted to reporters, “This is absolutely outrageous and I am deeply offended by this. I am pretty sure many others of the Muslim community are also very offended by this.”
Khan added, “It is [demoralizing] and goes against one’s religious morals and scripture… and I speak on behalf of every Muslim and human that does not deserve to be misled by any sort of false claim of halal food or lies about what we consume.”
The company who produces the product said they are very sorry about the mix up, saying in a statement , “The mistake happened when we did the print run and, unfortunately, our manager failed to spot this error and got approval for printing. We have been trying our very best and hardest [to correct the issue] and have contacted different clients involved and have sorted the issue.”
As well as that statement, Aldi released a statement of their own, saying, “Regarding the Punjab Pakora Black Pudding Pakora (Supplied by Punjab Pakora), we have now investigated this matter with the supplier, who has advised that the packaging was incorrectly labelled as Halal-certified and the problem is currently being rectified. We [apologize] for any confusion caused by this unfortunate, isolated matter.”
[Image credit: The Drum ]
