After months of waiting, Muslim students in the Crestwood School District now have the option of halal meat in their cafeterias.
It comes in the form of a chicken patty that will be offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the elementary schools, and every day at the middle school and high school.
Animals used for halal meat are raised, butchered and blessed specifically in accordance of Islamic law.
Crestwood Food Service Director Lori Squire said although this is the first halal meat product available, other halal items had been provided in the past, including a fish sandwich, a vegetarian burrito and the menu item accommodating students avoiding meat. The menu item changes daily, but non-meat alternatives were offered, and still will be. For example, spaghetti would be served with meat or marinara sauce, or a taco could be served with double cheese instead of meat.
At the Sept. 9 school board meeting, parents showed appreciation for the change, but one concern did arise. A parent said her child, who is in the last lunch period at Riverside Middle School, was unable to get a halal patty because the cafeteria ran out.
Squire said this was a one-time occurrence. A broken oven at RMS and miscommunication caused the fluke.
Concerned parents have been begging the school board for a halal meat option. As for the wait, Squire said there was a lot to consider in purchasing the halal meat. But, the purchases was postponed because she experienced severe health issues and was off work for several months.
In May, Squire returned to work and was dedicated to the halal predicament, quickly working in the summer to get the halal introduction ready for the school year. She expressed gratitude to the school board for not jumping ahead with plans that may have turned out flawed.
“There are some school boards that will just go ahead with something and then the person responsible for it is left with a mess. And I had a plan for implementing halal, but it was all in my head, not written down anywhere,” she said.
Her biggest obstacles upon returning were finding out where to purchase the meat, how to start the program and the cooking/distribution process.
Halal meat becomes contaminated if it touches a non-halal product or blade used to cut the food, so Squire said she has been cautious. She also had to consider storage, transportation and vendors.
“We have one oven that we just cook the halal chicken patties in, and then we wrap them so there’s no cross-contamination when they’re being transported. We wrap them in a certain color foil and nothing else gets wrapped in that foil. They’re wrapped so they don’t touch any other food, and we put them in pans with lids, so we’re being really careful,” she said.
The implementation of halal meat in the district was welcomed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan in a press release.
In it, CAIR-MI Safe Spaces Coordinator Warda Kalim said, “We hope that other school districts in Southeast Michigan provide similar accommodations to serve our area’s growing Muslim population.”
Squire said the patties are being chosen by a maximum of 20 percent of students who buy their meals.