The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) has sent a letter to 1,400 mosques across the UK, warning them to avoid meat products certified by the Halal Food Authority (HFA).
The letter pointed to the fact that the pastry products at the centre of the recent contamination scandal, which were manufactured by McColgan Quality Foods and found to contain pork DNA, had been certified as halal by the HFA.
It said the incident had raised “serious and pertinent” questions regarding the HFA’s halal auditing process, including what traceability steps had been carried out by the HFA to ensure the meat had been halal, whether any pork-based products had been manfuactured at the site, and what measures were included in the HFA auditing process to prevent cross-contamination at all stages of production.
It added that HFA had so far “refused to answer these questions” and had not attended the MAT’s public community inquiry into the contamination.
The letter said there had also been “no clarity” on the investigations that the HFA had conducted since the incident to establish the source of the contamination.
It urged the Muslim community to “be prudent and cautious of HFA and its auditing process and to only consume products accredited by HFA once HFA had properly informed the MAT or the Muslim community of its inspection, auditing and regulatory processes, standards and motives”.