The Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) welcomes the suspension by the Ministry of Justice of a supplier after it discovered that Halal pies and pasties sourced from Halal-certificated supplier may contain traces of porcine DNA (pork). LCM is appalled to learn that Muslims across the country have been victims of this incident. This discovery underscores the dire need in this country to establish agreed standards, processes and regulations amongst our Halal meat suppliers.

Muslims, just like the Jewish faith, seek to fulfil their religious obligations by consuming Halal-certified food and a lot of trust is placed in this industry. We need a collective approach to ensure these expectations are realised.

LCM calls upon the Food Standards Agency to identify where else the product may have been supplied and remove it from the Halal food chain by enacting their ‘food alert’ product ‘recall’ procedures.

There is a need for strengthening the partnership between the community, suppliers, government agencies and consumers.

We call upon Muslims of Lancashire and its shop keepers and food outlets and all organisations, NHS, police and schools to adopt the LCM’s universal Halal criteria method, accepted by all Muslims across the UK and the globe.

Coun Salim Mulla, Chairman, LCM