A UK supermarket chain has

been forced to apologise to Muslims after it labelled black pudding ‘halal’

despite it containing pork.

The product, which contains

pork blood and skin, was stocked at Aldi supermarkets with a UK Health Code

that labelled it suitable for Muslims, reported the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper.

It was supplied by Scottish

company Punjab Pakora, which produces several Indian dishes.

But angry customers contacted

Aldi alerting them to the mistake and prompting the supermarket chain to issue

a public apology and take the product off the shelves.

An Aldi spokesman was quoted

as saying the company was investigating the incident. The spokesman said:

“Regarding the Punjab Pakora Black Pudding Pakora (Supplied by Punjab Pakora),

we have now investigated this matter with the supplier, who has advised that

the packaging was incorrectly labelled as Halal-certified and the problem is

currently being rectified.

“We apologise for any

confusion caused by this unfortunate, isolated matter.

“While this is not a food

safety or legal compliance issue, any customers who are not satisfied are

welcome to return their purchase to store for a full refund.”

Punjab Pakora’s owners Kushal

and Vinita Duggal reportedly explained that the manager in charge of what is

printed on product labels did not notice the mistake.

“The mistake happened when we

did the print run and unfortunately our manager failed to spot this error and

got approval for printing.

“We have been trying our very

best and hardest [to correct the issue] and have contacted different clients

involved and have sorted the issue.”

But many Muslims expressed

their outrage at what had happened. The Daily Mail quoted a customer named as

Manahil Khan as saying: “This is absolutely outrageous and I am deeply offended

by this. I am pretty sure many others of the Muslim community are too.

“It is demoralising and goes

against ones religious morals and scripture.... and I speak on behalf of every

Muslim and human that does not deserve to be misled by any sort of false claim

of halal food or lies about what we consume.”

Arabian Business has

contacted Aldi for an update on the situation.