Checkers put on notice after labelling error
A PHOTOGRAPH of a package of boerewors bearing both a halaal certification sticker and another stating the product contained 27% pork has sparked fury in the Muslim community.
A picture of the product was posted on social networking site Facebook after it was photographed at a Checkers supermarket in Cape Town’s Kenilworth Centre last week by a woman who asked not to be named.
Following the uproar, it has since been found to be halaal but incorrectly labelled by the Muslim Judicial Council Halaal Trust and the store.
The trust’s spokesman, Shaykh Moosa Titus, said it had received several e-mails and phone calls about the matter. He said an investigation this week had revealed that a labelling error had occurred.
“The problem is due to staff members mistakenly using the wrong label on the halaal sausage product.
“The product is most definitely halaal and there is no component of non-halaal [pork] in this sausage.
“We have raised the con- cerns with Checkers at the Kenilworth Centre. As a result of the complaints, the regional manager met our representative and a procedure was put in place to remedy this problem.
“We have in addition instructed our in-house monitors to be more vigilant to ensure that such a problem does not occur again.”
The customer who spotted the mislabelled wors said she was in “utter shock” when she saw it was labelled as halaal and containing 27% pork. She asked to speak to the manager.
“I said to the man: ‘ I’m never going to buy meat here.’ They’ve lost my trust and it’s going to take a lot for me to go back there because of that incident.”
Checkers spokesman Sarita van Wyk said the complaint was investigated.
“Shoprite regrets the error and butchery staff have been reprimanded.”
Checkers Kenilworth op- erates both a standard and halaal butchery, each with its own production area, cold storage facilities and cabinets.
“The product was indeed halaal, but the halaal butchery had run out of the correct label and a staff member used the standard Grabouw boerewors labels without consulting the butchery management,” said Van Wyk. “We are not sure how many packs were affected, but the problem was corrected last Friday morning as soon as we became aware of it.”