Cadbury
forced to explain why its chocolate is halal after being accused of 'Muslim
appeasement'
Cadbury has
been forced to respond to furious customers after an old picture surfaced
online indicating that its chocolate Easter
eggs in the UK are halal certified.
Customers anger was sparked after the
picture, which appears to have been taken in 2014, of a Cadbury’s employee
holding a certificate showing its products are halal-certified surfaced on
social media with the caption: “Cadbury proudly displaying their latest new
halal certificates, pass it on.”
As soon as the image
was re-shared on Twitter some
customers accused the brand of “Muslim appeasement” while other threatened to
boycott it all together.
As a result, Cadbury responded
to the fierce reaction by explaining:
“None
of our UK products are halal certified and we have never made any changes to
our chocolate to specifically make them halal.”
"They
are just suitable for those following a halal diet in the same way that
standard food such as bread or water.”
In a separate statement a spokesperson for
Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, said: “In the UK our chocolate products are
suitable for vegetarians and those following a halal diet, however they are not
Halal certified. As our chocolate products do not contain meat, the
ritual of halal does not apply and in the UK carry no halal certifications of
any kind. The only animal related products we use in our British chocolate are
milk and eggs. We take care to point out if and when our products are suitable
for certain sections of society who take an interest in the ingredients and
manufacturing process.
“Elsewhere in the world, we may
label products with any number of certifications based on consumer interest and
dietary requirements, and the best place for consumers to find that information
is on the product label in that country.
However, Cadbury welcomes
consumers of all faiths and none.”
Under
Sharia law, or Islamic law, products that contain pork are not considered halal,
and so should not be consumed by Muslims.
The image appears to
originate from the firm’s Asia-Pacific market.
In
2014, Islamic authorities in Malaysia confirmed Cadbury chocolate had been
found not to contain pork DNA after concerns were raised about whether the
company’s chocolate contained pig DNA,
..
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