Hong Kong hospitals cook up first halal meals

Hong Kong – Halal meals, prepared according to strict Islamic
guidelines, are being served to Hong Kong Muslims in some public
hospitals for the first time, a media report said Saturday. “Noting
their [the Muslims] difference in dietary culture, we decided to
introduce a halal meal set,” Vivian Wong, co-ordinator for the Hospital
Authority in New Territories West, was quoted as saying by the South
China Morning Post. The initiative was launched at four
hospitals in Hong Kong’s New Territories and the scheme could be
launched territory-wide according to the paper. The recipes, cooking process and kitchen were approved and certified by a governing body of local Islamic affairs. Halal
food is cooked using separate utensils to ensure it is not contaminated
by forbidden ingredients, while the meat used comes from animals
slaughtered according to religious rules. Union, an ethnic minority group, welcomed the new policy and urged that it be expanded to other hospitals. “To
take it a step further, they should add menus and food whose appearance
are user-friendly for the minorities,” said campaign director Fermi
Wong, who added that a hospital meal consisting mainly of rice might
not suit Pakistani or Indian patients.