The Muslim owner of a care home removed bacon sandwiches and sausages from its menu, infuriating its 40 residents - none of whom share his beliefs.
Dr Zulfikar Ali Khan stopped deliveries from a family butcher who had supplied the home for years in favour of ordering only halal meat from another firm.
The 40 pensioners at the Queen’s Care Centre, in the mining village of Maltby, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, found themselves without traditional favourites including bacon butties, bangers and mash, ham sandwiches and sausage rolls.
None of them are Muslim and concerns were taken up by their families and members of the home’s 37-strong staff.
A relative of one resident said: “This is a disgrace. The old people who are in the home and in their final years and deserve better.
“They are paying customers who are making profits for this man. The least he can do is give them their favourite food.”
One member of staff, who asked not to be named, said even lard was stopped and claimed no one had been consulted before the change.
The employee added: “Bacon sandwiches are a favourite here. It’s quite wrong that someone should impose their religious and cultural beliefs on others like this.”
Residents at the Queens Car Centre pay up to £343 a week for a single room and the home is rated as a two star “good” care home by the Care Quality Commission.
Dr Khan, who has owned the home since 1994, said: “There has been one delivery of halal meat and people have misunderstood the concept.
“As soon as I realised this I held a senior staff meeting and I made it abundantly clear that residents could have any meat product or food they wished.
“I agree it would be quite wrong for someone to impose their religious or cultural beliefs on others, but this is not the case.”