Halal meat containing pork DNA

[Qurratul Ayn]

Supplier of halal meat containing pork DNA is named

The company which supplied halal food found to contain traces of pork DNA to prisons has been named.

McColgan's Quality Foods Limited was the source of "the very small number of halal savoury beef pastry products," said food distributor 3663.
The County Tyrone company said it was co-operating with The Food Standards Agency.
3663 carried out tests on five products after suspecting the halal products may have contained horsemeat.

A 3663 company spokeswoman said it was "shocked" to find pork DNA traces.

Under Islamic law, Muslims are required to eat halal food - and eating pork is strictly forbidden.

'Swift measures'

The 3663 spokeswoman added the affected products had been withdrawn from supply and were only distributed to prisons.
"The products in question are from one particular food manufacturer, McColgan's Quality Foods Limited, and have not been distributed to any other customer. All halal products from this manufacturer have been withdrawn"

3663 said initial tests were carried out on the products after the manufacturer's name appeared on a report by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) following an investigation which discovered horsemeat in some frozen burgers.

"3663 recognised a potential connection between a supplier of halal savoury pie products for the Ministry of Justice and one of their halal beef suppliers mentioned with the FSAI report," the company said.
3663 said horsemeat was not found but "disappointingly, we received evidence that within the products tested there were traces of porcine protein.
McGolgan's, based in County Tyrone since the mid-1970s, employs about 100 people at its site on the Dublin Road, Strabane.

A spokesman for McColgan's said: "McColgan's has already taken swift measures to identify, isolate and withdraw all of the products which are supplied to the Prison Service while an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding this deeply regrettable and unforeseen incident takes place.

"McColgan's is keen to stress that at no point has pork of any kind been included in the recipes of any of the Halal-certified products it supplies."

The Food Standards Agency is now investigating whether the contaminated products were distributed more widely across the UK.
Steve Wearne, from the Food Standards Agency, said it had called an urgent meeting "of a range of suppliers" on Monday where it would "stress again the responsibility of all food businesses to ensure the food that they sell contains what it says on the label".

Islamic law

Halal meat is defined as meat slaughtered by hand and blessed by the person doing the killing, however some Muslims believe a mechanised form is also now acceptable.
The editor of the Muslim News, Ahmed Versi, said: "This is very serious because no Muslim would ever eat pork meat - anything to do with pork - and it must be very distressing for those in prison who have been given this meat to realise they may have been eating food which was contaminated with pig."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21312752

[Persian]

I'm pretty sure one of the non-Muslim workers poured in this pig meat.

[cOsMiCiNtUiTiOn]

easy fix. just DON'T EAT PROCESSED FOOD. full stop. I know prisoners haven't much of a choice, but this should give those frozen entree lovers a lesson. If you don't personally witness what goes in your food, then don't eat it.

- cOsMiC

[Persian]

easy fix. just DON'T EAT PROCESSED FOOD. full stop. I know prisoners haven't much of a choice, but this should give those frozen entree lovers a lesson. If you don't personally witness what goes in your food, then don't eat it.

- cOsMiC

Sometimes you don't have a choice. But, when you do, you have to choose fresh meat that you are sure are halal.

[Ali Mujahidin]

As salaam mualaikum.

I live in a predominantly Muslim country at the moment. Before this I have lived for twenty years in a country where Muslims are the minority. Food is not a big problem for me wherever I live because I just go by the limits of what I can do. I will buy my food from sources which I am told is halal. I do not have the resources to investigate the source of the food myself. When I am in doubt, I don't. However I do not allow my doubts to run wild. Otherwise I would not be eating anything at all.

This particular incident should be a wakeup call to all of us. We should strive to produce our own food as far as possible. I don't mean individually. I mean as a community. On a local scale. On a national scale. On a global scale. We should strive to provide a halal alternative. Insha Allah, the halal alternative will also find a market among the non-Muslims, if the food is of good quality and the price is reasonable.

WalLahu aklam.

[Marina-Aisha]

Omg well I usually just go to halal butchers so I know it's halal but saying that I do buy little things like halal chicken nuggets only cos it quick to do for the children..

[Hulk]

Time to make homemade chicken nuggets sis aisha lolll hehehe just kidding.. Situations like this reminds me of why some muslims really prefer getting their meat from muslims they personally know. I am sure the baraka/blessing is there.