Tesco reluctant to refund Christian woman who unknowingly bought halal lamb - Asda and Tesco responds to emails

As a follow on to my article on halal meat in our supermarkets I have received the following replies from two more top stores...

ASDA

Thank you for contacting me regarding Halal meat at the Sutton-in-Ashfield store.

I would like to reassure you that Asda takes the issue of animal welfare extremely seriously, and employs a highly skilled team of technical product managers and factory inspectors to ensure our welfare polices are always adhered to by our suppliers.

Our company policy is to insist that any animal slaughtered for use in any Asda branded product is always stunned prior to its slaughter, rendering them unconscious and insensitive to pain.

All products, both halal and standard, sold under the Asda brand must adhere to this strict animal welfare policy.

I can also assure you that the labelling of products in all areas of our store meet our legal obligations.

Kind Regards

Rachel Eddon
ASDA Service Team
Tel: 0844 481 5000

TESCO

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in replying to your email. We do try to respond to our customers' emails in a timely manner and I'm sorry that this has not happened on this occasion.

Thank you for contacting us regarding the sale of Halal meat in our stores.

I would like to reassure you that we require all slaughter processes in our supply chain, including Halal, to meet our stringent animal welfare requirements. In every case, the animal is stunned before slaughter so that it is insensible and feels no pain.

We are aware of the RSPCA's concerns with regards to animals slaughtered under the Halal ritual being sufficiently stunned. We take animal welfare very seriously and that is why we audit all of our slaughter houses to ensure that the stunning process is effective and that the animal feels no pain.

Like all other major UK supermarkets, we source from suppliers who serve Muslim as well as non-Muslim customers. Some of these suppliers process all their meat to Halal standards. For example, all New Zealand lamb meets Halal standards. In these cases, all of our processes still meet the same stringent animal welfare requirements and all animals are stunned prior to slaughter whether the meat is sold as Halal or non-Halal.

All fresh meat we sell is not Halal, except for lamb and chicken and of those ranges we can absolutely assure you that if you buy British organic lamb and chicken as well as the Willow Farm and Finest Free Range lines, these will not be Halal either.

I would also like to advise you that all of our pre-packed Halal meats are labelled as Halal, and any fresh Halal meats are served on the specialised Deli counters that we have in some of our stores that are situated in and around highly populated Muslim areas.

We like to give all of our customers a choice of what meat they would like to buy, and I can assure you that all our food labels are controlled by government legislation and EU regulations. We would never do anything to intentionally upset any of our customers.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. I hope that the above information is helpful.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at customer.service@tesco.co.uk

Kind Regards

Joan Duncan
Customer Service Manager
Tesco Customer Service

You can watch a video on halal slaughter HERE

Tesco reluctant to refund Christian woman who unknowingly bought halal lamb

A Christian woman who unknowingly bought a joint of halal lamb from Tesco returned it to the store for a refund. The duty manager told her she could not have a refund unless the meat was 'faulty'.

Upon pointing out that a muslim wouldn't be treated in the same way, the woman was finally given a refund.

I have tried time and time again to get Tesco to answer my questions on the meat they sell but have never been given a response.

Yesterday I again sent emails to five top supermarkets including Tesco. So far I have had a response from two of them...

WAITROSE

Thank you for your e-mail.

In light of recent media reports we would like to take this opportunity to clarify our policy regarding our lamb.

Our approach and priority for all of our meat is to ensure animal welfare of the highest standard, approved by the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA). Our practices are also in line with the recommendations of Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA.

All our lamb is electrically stunned before slaughter meaning that animals are unconscious and are not subjected to pain. UK law currently permits halal slaughter both with stunning and without.

Other UK supermarkets also follow this practice.

To give our customers a choice, our Duchy Originals from Waitrose lamb is not halal.

However, we will continue to allow the halal blessing for the rest of our lamb so that abattoirs can sell the parts of the carcass that we don't use to other markets - this minimises food waste, keeps prices down for our customers and helps our farmers to compete against foreign imports.

We have placed information about the slaughter process for our lamb on our website so that customers can make an informed decision.

Regards,
Chris Zawadzki
Waitrose Customer Sales and Support.

CO-OP/ SOMERFIELDS

Dear XXXXXXX

Thank you for your email concerning the sale of halal meat.

I hope that you will find the following information useful and that it will alleviate the concerns that you have regarding this matter.

All own-brand fresh and frozen meat and poultry sold in Co-operative and Somerfield stores has been humanely stunned prior to slaughter, and all abattoirs and processing plants supplying our own-brand products are required to work to the standards laid down by the Humane Slaughter Association in their Codes of Practice.

All our own-brand meat and poultry, with the exception of seasonal New Zealand lamb, is British Farm Assured. We require the New Zealand farms, abattoirs and processing plants to adopt the same high welfare standards as we expect from sites in the UK.

As is the case with the overwhelming majority of lamb from New Zealand, our own-brand lamb from New Zealand is slaughtered in accordance with halal procedure, but, as detailed above, all animals are humanely stunned prior to slaughter. As the process used for all our own-brand lamb is essentially the same, and the welfare of the animal is not compromised at any stage, we do not label any of the lamb as halal.

All our own-brand British lamb has been humanely stunned prior to slaughter, to the standards laid down by the Humane Slaughter Association in their Codes of Practice. We do not specify halal in our product specification, although some supplying sites do produce (pre-stunned) halal lamb for other customers.

We sell British lamb and New Zealand lamb seasonally. We do not sell any own-brand halal beef or chicken. We sell a halal-labelled branded chicken range in three stores in London, but again the birds used for these products are pre-stunned before slaughter.

I do hope that the above information provides you with reassurance. Should you require any further information or assistance please contact me on our Freephone number 0800 0686 727 or by email to my personal mailbox danielle.lewis@co-operative.coop

Yours Sincerely

Danielle Lewis Customer Relations Office

As soon as I receive a response from the other stores I will put them up.

To many people shopping is something they enjoy. To a nationalist it is a nightmare.

I have always bought what I can from my local market, but since my hours have increased, shopping has to either be done at silly o’clock or online and delivered.

I tried online shopping and half the items were either missing or ‘substituted’. Each time I stated that I didn’t want a substitute, each time they sent one.

Now, for some this could be a good idea but not in my experience. I mean, how the hell can a family sized deep apple pie be substituted with a pack of six tiny apple pies? And why the hell would someone replace fresh green beans with a can of peas?

So I thought ‘sod it’. No matter what the time is I will go myself. Not as easy as I thought considering I work all hours God sends, including weekends.

Absolutely shattered from a 13 hour shift and 70 hour week, I hobbled to the nearest 24 hour Tesco. And this is where my nightmare began.

On reflection, the variety of goods is impressive. The problem is finding anything remotely British.

My first complaint is with the fruit section. The majority of fruit is imported from overseas. Fair enough if you want something exotic, but why have 10 varieties of French apple?

For the record, France is not my favourite place. I have found the people arrogant and ignorant towards the British; I would rather sail round it than fly over it, so buying anything French is a resounding ‘non’ for me.

Back to apples. Out of a whole row of apples I found only one English apple. Whoopie-do! Of course, it is a variety I do not even like so I go without.

Now for the meat. I could never be a vegetarian, I enjoy eating meat far too much. What bugs me about stores like Tesco is the way they try and trick you with the packaging. You pick up what you think are British sausages or bacon when in fact they have only been packed in Britain. The meat itself has been reared in another country, for example Poland.

Pork products start life in Poland under horrendous conditions. Thousands of pigs are crammed into sheds where they frantically chew at bars and fight each other. Sows are kept in steel farrowing crates, unable to turn around but still able to feed piglets. While our government banned these cruel practises, the EU poured money into Poland and Romania, enabling the importation to the UK of cheap pork. In fact 70% of the one million tonnes of pig meat imported into Britain every year does not meet British welfare standards.

Stores in Britain only have to process and package the meat for it to qualify as being British, hence my nightmare shopping trip. A whole row of pork products and not one stated that the pig was reared in Britain. Some stated the pork was sourced in the Eu but none said it was reared here. No one at the store could find a pork product that stated it was British reared. I came away with no meat.

Now for other meats, halal and kosher. I also asked a couple of Tesco workers how I could tell if a meat was halal or kosher; there are no halal or kosher sections in my local Tesco but that doesn’t mean they don’t sell them. They sell everything else.

For halal or kosher to be permissible the animal has to be alive and healthy. The jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe have to be severed by a razor sharp knife by a single swipe and any flowing blood of the carcass should be completely drained. In other words the animal bleeds to death and is not stunned beforehand.

I do not agree to something being killed in such a barbaric way and will not buy it, but how am I to know if it’s been slaughtered in this way? After all they are serving halal meat to our school children without then knowing so why not sell it in shops without telling us?

Once again I was told by the staff that they didn’t know. To be quite honest, they don’t know much. I could go on and on about other items but the story is always the same and after about an hour and a half I gave up and left the shop with bread and a few chocolate cakes to keep me going until tomorrows market.

The moral of this story?

Only use stores such as Tesco if absolutely necessary. Support your local butcher and grocer. It may cost a few pence more but you know you are supporting your fellow countrymen, you know the product will be top class and it will be fresh.

BUY BRITISH!