Norway Agency to File Report over Pork in Halal Food

NORWAY - The Norwegian Food Safety Authority said it would file a complaint against food company Kuraas after finding large quantities of pork in its halal-labeled products.
calendar icon 18 March 2013
clock icon 3 minute read

Kebab meat sold by the food group to restaurants contained between 5 to 30 per cent of pork even though it was marked as halal, the agency found.

"We will file a complaint against the producer," Catherine Signe Svinland, adviser at the food safety watchdog, told AFP.

"In a halal product, there should be no pork at all and when we find such quantities ... we don't believe it's an accident but it is in fact fraud," she said.

The Local reports that the group said it had no intention of misleading customers.

"We buy huge quantities of halal meat and we can show invoices corresponding to what we bought and sold," marketing manager Kenneth Kuraas told news agency NTB.

"Pork ending up in these products is simply due to routines not being followed," he added.

According to Mr Kuraas, a labeling error may have been to blame.

"Our theory is that it happened when the meat was labeled," he said.

Since pork consumption is prohibited under Islam, the company sent a letter of apology to the Islamic Council, an umbrella organisation representing Muslims in Norway.

The Islamic halal method of killing an animal requires its throat to be slit and the blood to be drained.

On Thursday halal chicken sausages served to pupils in central London schools and nurseries were revealed to contain traces of pork.

European countries have stepped up food controls in response to the recent scandal which saw millions of frozen ready meals pulled off supermarket shelves after tests showed meat labelled as beef contained large quantities of horsemeat.

© 2000 - 2024 - Global Ag Media. All Rights Reserved | No part of this site may be reproduced without permission.