Meat supplier in HMC U-turn

A Halal meat wholesaler who six months ago slammed the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) has now joined the group himself.

Abdul
Jabbar of Chaudhry Halal Meats this month became the third wholesaler
in the North West to become HMC certified. But his meat will come from
the first North West-based HMC certified slaughterhouse.

The
HMC last month announced their 20th certified establishment in the
region. But a wholesaler, who supplies more than 45 shops in the North
West, could see other bigger companies joining the HMC bandwagon. In
our December issue Mr Jabbar told of the HMC’s tactics and how the
group was casting unnecessary doubt in the minds of customers.

On
its website HMC outlines the following factors it has adopted: that
manual slaughter be by a Muslim (non-mechanical); that there are verbal
recitation of Allah’s name (no blessed blades to pre-recorded
bismillah) and that it should be ensured that the minimum amount of
vessels are severed. The group claims that methods of Halal slaughter
need to be more stringent than those adopted by the more widespread
Halal Food Authority (HFA).

In
December Mr Jabbar said, “The HMC is a private organisation that
charges businesses and we feel they are doing it for the sake of money.

“And they only seem to pop up at Ramzan time when they know they will have maximum impact.”

Now, having joined the group itself Mr Jabbar explained, “I still stand by what I said.

“I lost nine shops in that time – all due to them being pressurised by their customers.

“People were coming in and telling them they were getting their food from elsewhere because they weren’t HMC certified.

“Shopkeepers have been left with no choice either because they have been forced into a corner.

“What
does one expect me to do? We slaughter our meat in the Lake District
and the HMC now has an inspector who visits us once a day to inspect
all the meat.”

The
HMC inspections only cover lamb and not beef. Chaudhry Halal Meats is
not the first wholesaler to become HMC certified. Two other wholesalers
already distribute to shops in the North West but their meat is
supplied from a Yorkshire- based slaughterhouse. Maulana Hanif Dudhwala
the regional head of the HMC said, “We respect what Mr Jabbar has to
say.

“But the community has spoken and it is due to their concerns these major changes are taking place.

“Hopefully with a North West-based slaughterhouse coming on board on we can move forward.

“I
would again stress that the HMC is concerned only with ensuring that we
as a community are getting the best service when it comes to Halal
certified meat “This is not a money making thing at all. The HMC
executive committee are all volunteers and do this work in their own
time.

“This
is simply a case of customers wanting to be fully aware and concerned
that the meat they are buying is from a fully Halal certified method.”

The HMC now has 19 fully certified establishments or suppliers in Blackburn, six in Bolton and two in Preston.

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