A Birmingham school has issued an apology after Muslim pupils were fed bacon by mistake.
The error happened at Ninestiles School which has a high intake of Muslim students.
Headteacher Chris Quinn put the mitsake down to “human error.”
She said: ‘‘It has come to the school’s notice that a small number of sandwiches, sold on the 17th July 2013, which were labelled as halal, contained products which were not halal. The school apologises for this unfortunate mistake. It is an important part of Ninestiles’ ethos that we meet the dietary requirements of all our students and staff.
‘‘The school is taking steps to ensure its suppliers meet their commitment to the school’s expectations with regards to food standards. The school is also reviewing its own procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.We apologise to anyone who inadvertently ate one of this small number of sandwiches.’’
The halal food error was discovered by a Muslim teacher who had bought one of the baguettes at lunch in July.
According to the Birmingham Mail the teacher said: “All the halal food is meant to be labelled clearly as halal and I took what I believed was a halal chicken and sweetcorn baguette. But after eating it I became aware of a smoky smell and taste. As I looked inside I was horrified to find that there were pieces of what I thought were ham.’
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‘‘I felt physically repulsed, terribly upset. I had never eaten pork before and couldn’t believe I was eating it by mistake at school. I had taken the last baguette so all the others and the sandwiches with the same filler in would have been eaten by the pupils, many of whom are Muslim.
‘‘This means pupils were therefore not only given non-halal chicken, but were also given bacon, a meat that is clearly forbidden in Islam and is not supposed to be anywhere near the lips of a Muslim.’’
The teacher complained to the school immediately and an investigation was launched, with the full apology issued this week.
