Aldi issues mass apology after accidentally selling customers ‘Halal pork’
After mistakenly selling ‘halal’ meat products containing pork to unwitting customers across the UK, supermarket chain Aldi has been forced to apologize.
The discovery that pig skin and blood was used in ‘halal’ black puddings infuriated shoppers at the chain, some of whom were practicing Muslims and thus forbidden to eat pork.
"This is absolutely outrageous and I am deeply offended by this,” Manahil Khan told the Daily Mirror Newspaper on Sunday.
"I am pretty sure many others of the Muslim community are also very offended by this,” he added.
"It is demoralizing and goes against ones 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."
Punjab Pakora, who supplied the products, said 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.”
READ MORE: French ‘Halal test’ detects presence of pork
Aldi offered an apology and said the issue was being looked into.
“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 labeled as Halal-certified and the problem is currently being rectified,” he said.
"We apologize for any confusion caused by this unfortunate, isolated matter. While this is not a food safety or legal compliance issue, any customers who are not satisfied are welcome to return their purchase to store for a full refund."
Last year, in France, a special kit went on sale to help detect the presence of pork in food products.
The ‘Halal Test’ was aimed at the Islamic market and claims to rapidly detect the presence of pork in any meal.
The demonstration video instructs viewers to take a piece of meat, place it in a small flask and add a few drops of hot water.
“The appearance of two red lines means that we have pork present,” Abderrahmane Chaoui, one of the product’s creators, says in the video.
This means that the product cannot be consumed by Muslims, as eating pork is outlawed by the Koran.
By contrast, one bar indicates that pork is not present, and that the product meets Islamic consumption standards.
