UK NEWS

ASDA IN HALAL STORM

The Asda store has repled its traditional fresh meat counter with a halal only section

Sunday November 8,2009

By Ted Jeory

SUPERMARKET giant Asda has risked sparking a racial backlash in the place where the BNP won its first ever council, by closing its traditional fresh meat counter and replacing it with a halal only section.

The chain has decided to make the move at its large store on the Isle of Dogs, east London.

Within weeks, anyone wanting fresh pork chops or ham off the bone will have to go to the pre-packed meat section, with Muslim customers having a wider choice from the halal counter.

Asda insisted it was “responding to customer demand” and had done a deal with a local halal butcher to reflect the ethnic make up of the area’s population.

Yet figures show that while the borough of Tower Hamlets is almost half Muslim, the Isle of Dogs is about 80 per cent non-Bangladeshi.

Workers at the store said furious non-Muslim customers would not meat derived from cutting the throats of animals and letting them bleed to death.

Politicians were concerned last night that the move could reignite racial tension on the Isle of Dogs, where Derek Beackon won the BNP’s first council seat in 1993.

Local MP and farms minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: “As the major supplier on the island, Asda should not be restricting choice.”

Peter Golds, leader of the Tories on Tower Hamlets Council, said the decision was “insensitive”.