Muslims' anger over corrupted food
The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) found last December some chicken breasts sold in Britain, often imported from The Netherlands, contained pork protein as well as more water than was stated on the label.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that chicken with added protein powder from meat, to help the poultry product absorb more water, was still being consumed.
“This is deeply worrying for the Muslim community. All food should be labelled accurately. This is very important to us because pork is absolutely forbidden according to the Koran,” said Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain.
The British food standards watchdog said it had contacted the Dutch authorities over the issue and, not being satisfied with their response, had raised the issue with the European Commission.
The Guardian report said beef protein powder had also been added to chicken imported to Britain, , which it said had raised concern about potential risk from mad cow disease (BSE - bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
Scientists have linked BSE to the spread of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) which has killed more than 100 people, mostly in Britain.
The FSA spokeswoman said that at this stage no bovine material had been found in chicken in Britain.
The Guardian report focused on findings by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in May that some chicken products imported from The Netherlands had been supplemented with a beef protein without being labelled accordingly.
Irish authorities have impounded the concerned meat because producers were breaching labelling regulations, a spokeswoman for the FSAI said.
In Britain, food cannot be retained on mislabelling grounds. But the FSA said at least one prosecution had been taken as a result of its earlier study.
A spokesman for Dutch firm Kappers Foods, which markets one of the brands alleged to contain bovine DNA in the FSAI study, denied any proteins had been added to his firm’s products.
