Calgary halal grocers and wholesaler shut down by Alberta Health Services over sales of uninspected meat
Investigators with Alberta Health Services served clo‐ sure orders on four halal grocery stores in Calgary on Friday, and another on a Calgary halal warehouse and distribution centre. The outlets are accused of purchasing and reselling uninspected meat to the public, which is against the law in Alberta.
Shawdesi Bazaar Foods and Catering, located in a strip mall east of Calgary In‐ ternational Airport, was or‐ dered closed because "there is evidence that uninspected meat has been purchased and sold at this location," ac‐ cording to the closure order.
A message on the compa‐ ny's phone on Saturday said the business was closed for maintenance and would be back on Monday.
A review of AHS inspec‐ tion reports shows repeat vi‐ olations at Shawdesi Bazaar dating to 2021, including sev‐ eral instances of frozen food for which an original source cannot be found.
Bismillah Meat & Grocery in Calgary's northeast adver‐ tises a "large inventory of Pakistani grocery, halal meat, Islamic merchandise and in‐ ternational produce." It was also closed over the pur‐ chase and sale of unin‐ spected meat, and according to the public health order will remain closed until it meets a long list of conditions, includ‐ ing proving to authorities that meat sold in the estab‐ lishment comes from an ap‐ proved source.
No one at Bismillah was answering the phone on Sat‐ urday. There are no notices on its Facebook page or web‐ site acknowledging the clo‐ sure order.
One store cited for cock‐ roach infestation
Similar orders were also issued to Mustafa Madani Halal Meat and Groceries in Calgary's Castleridge neigh‐ bourhood, and Maher Halal Meat Butchery and Grocery in Southview. Maher was also cited for "a significant cock‐ roach infestation. Live and dead cockroaches were ob‐ served throughout the food establishment."
Maher Halal Meat Butchery and Grocery has been cited four times for health violations since June 2021, including having food not labelled to indicate its sources, and selling home‐ made food.
Cadalow Halal Meat, a wholesale distributor of halal products in Alberta, and its retail outlet, Alta Halal, were also closed for distributing uninspected meat.
A note on Alta Halal's Facebook page states that it is facing "Temporary closure due to pending City of Cal‐ gary paperwork."
None of the affected out‐ lets responded to calls and emails from CBC News.
A spokesperson for Alber‐ ta Health Services confirmed the closure orders. Closing businesses over the pur‐ chase and distribution of uninspected meat is rarely done. Closing five outlets in a single day is unprecedented in Alberta.
Uninspected meat can cause serious health threats
Uninspected means offi‐ cials cannot find a legitimate source for meat being sold to the public.
Under Canada's food safety system, any meat of‐ fered for sale must be feder‐ ally or provincially inspected in order to ensure it is not carrying any agents that cause diseases such as bov‐ ine spongiform en‐ cephalopathy (BSE), which is found in cattle, or scrapie, which is found in sheep and goats. Inspections also en‐ sure meat isn't infected with bacteria, such as E. coli, Lis‐ teria, or several others that cause human illness.
Lynn McMullen, a meat microbiologist and professor at the University of Alberta, stresses the inspection sys‐ tem is important.
"The health of the animal is a must before that animal is slaughtered, and that pre‐ vents those animal diseases from getting into the food supply," she said in an inter‐ view. "That's key."
She says uninspected meat can pose a serious dan‐ ger to the public.
"With an uninspected situ‐ ation, you don't have that oversight. So ... nobody's looking for signs of disease in that animal. So if it's some‐ thing systemic, you won't know."
CBC News has been un‐ able to determine the sources of the meat involved in the closure orders.