A man from Cardiff has been jailed for fraudulently distributing unhygienic non-halal meat to Muslim restaurants and takeaways across South Wales that believed they were buying halal poultry.
Helim Miah, 46, of Kilcredaun House, Cardiff, who owned Universal Food Wholesale Limited, was found guilty after a trial earlier this year and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for fraudulent trading and trading whilst bankrupt.
Another man, Noaf Rahman, also 46 and from Cardiff, admitted the fraudulent trading offences before the trial began and received a 24-month suspended sentence.
The offences were uncovered following an investigation that led to 2,840kg of frozen meat being seized from the pair’s warehouse in Cardiff.
Prosecutor Alex Greenwood told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court that over a five-year period, consumers of restaurants and takeaways “were in fact consuming non-halal products as a result of the criminality of these two defendants.”
An investigation was conducted by Cardiff and the Vale Shared Regulatory Services in January 2019.
It found that the meat was not properly traceable, sell-by dates were altered, and the chicken was not correctly chilled when transported in “dirty vans” across South and West Wales.
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The court heard that the takeaways and restaurants believed that they were purchasing halal chicken.
Some of the chicken had been bought as halal meat, but proper hygiene procedures were not followed in the “cutting room” of the warehouse.
It was also used to process non-halal meat, meaning none of it could be accurately described as halal.
There were extended periods when the warehouse did not receive halal meat from wholesalers but continued to supply chicken to restaurants and takeaways who believed it was halal.
The prosecution stated that the names of the affected businesses would not be read in court due to the “highly sensitive” nature of the offences.
Mr Greenwood said that the companies set up by the pair enabled them to hide “behind a corporate veil” which was deliberately created to provide a “confusing trail.”
Judge Vanessa Francis said that the pair had a “cavalier attitude” and were equally culpable.
She added that the “harm in my view is extensive” and that there were “flagrant breaches over a significant period of time.”
Judge Francis said: “This was a disaster waiting to happen and it is a matter of relief that it never did with the unsafe meat sent out of your premises.”
She added that the “societal impact” was “difficult to quantify.”
What is halal?
Halal is an Arabic term which literally translates to anything that is permissible. So, for meat to be halal, the animal must be a permissible species, a short prayer must be said by a Muslim or person of the book (Christian or Jew) prior to the neck cutting, and the knife used must be sharp to avoid causing animals unnecessary suffering.
They must be restrained, held in place in a gentle way and slaughtered using the best slaughter techniques, including the use of very sharp knife and skilled slaughter operatives.
The slice to the neck must be quick and the animal should not see the instruments of their demise in order to avoid placing the animal into severe stress.
Not all animals can be slaughtered for consumption by Muslims. Meat from pigs for instance is totally forbidden.
Halal meat also should be close to or touch meat which is contaminated or non-halal in any way. If non-halal food comes into direct contact with halal food, especially if it involves juices or cooking, there’s a potential for the halal food to become najis (impure).
For halal requirements to be met, the animal must have been alive at the moment of slaughter, all the blood must be drained out and the meat must be clean and taken from an animal that has eaten good food and lived a good quality life before death.
Islam explicitly forbids deceptive practices and condemns lying in all forms. The Quran condemns lying and deceitful behaviour, stating, “Do not mix truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]” (Quran 2:42).
