UK supermarket Aldi has been forced to apologize to Muslims customers for selling Black Pudding Pakora mistakenly labeled as Halal in spite of containing pork.
The product, Black Pudding Pakora, which contains pork blood and skin both, forbidden in Islam, was stocked at Aldi supermarkets as well as online with a UK Health Code stamp which certified it as suitable for Muslims.
After being contacted by infuriated customers who expressed their frustration, the supermarket has made an apology and offered repayment to unhappy customers.
The proprietor of Punjab Pakora Kushal & Vinita Duggal said the blunder occurred after to a manager in charge of printing on product labels did not notice the mistake.
“The mistake happened when we did the print run and unfortunately our manager failed to spot this error and got approval for printing. We have been trying our very best and hardest (to correct the issue) and have contacted different clients involved and have sorted the issue.”
According to an Aldi spokesman, the company is looking into the unpleasant incident.
“Regarding the Punjab Pakora Black Pudding Pakora (Supplied by Punjab Pakora), we have now investigated this matter with the supplier, who has advised that the packaging was incorrectly labeled as Halal-certified and the problem is currently being rectified.”
“We apologise for any confusion caused by this unfortunate, isolated matter. While this is not a food safety or legal compliance issue, any customers who are not satisfied are welcome to return their purchase to store for a full refund.”
“This is absolutely outrageous and I am deeply offended by this,” said Manahil Khan, a customer.
“It is demoralising and goes against ones religious morals and scripture…. and I speak on behalf of every Muslim and human that does not deserve to be misled by any sort of false claim of halal food or lies about what we consume.”