Halal Meat Pastries With Pork DNA Served To Prisons From Northern Irish Company

A company headquartered in Northern Ireland that supplied halal meat pies to prisons is in big trouble after it was discovered that the meat they used in their beef pastries actually contained pork DNA.

Food distributor 3663 said McColgan Quality Foods Limited supplied a 'very small number of halal savoury beef pastry products' that contained pork traces to prisons.

The company said all halal products from the manufacturer had been withdrawn from supply.

[snip]

In a statement the company said: '3663 would like to clarify that the very small number of halal savoury beef pastry products that have been withdrawn from supply were only ever distributed to custodial establishments.

The Ministry of Justice said 3663 has not been suspended, but a 'sub-contractor' has been.

3663 has said it was 'shocked', and described as 'wholly unacceptable' the discovery that some of the halal products it supplied were found to contain pork DNA due to McColgan Quality Foods being accredited by the Halal Food Authority.

The rest here.

Okay, as a quasi-vegetarian (one who eats fish and seafood but no other meat products), I would be horrified to discover some tofu dish I consumed had traces of beef, pork or chicken DNA, but I'm not in jail.  Had these foods been distributed to a non-jail population, I would have some sympathy.  But if prisoners are so religious that they eat halal (not all Muslims eat halal), then what are they doing in jail?  Sorry, but people in jail do not deserve special dispensation or consideration when it comes to their meal choices, regardless of their religious affiliation, and that goes for vegetarians as well.