A halal food supplier was charged for misleading Muslims around the world about their beef practices for several years.
Midamar and Islamic Services of America told customers all of its cattle were slaughtered following traditional customs - they said the animals were killed by hand by specially-trained Muslim slaughtermen, who never failed to recite prayer; and did not use penetrative captive bolt stunning, a process commonly used in meatpacking in which an animal is killed when a steel rod is shot into its brain, The Associated Press reported.
Despite these claims, Midamar's beef supplier was a beef packing plant that used bolt stunning to slaughter their cattle and usually did not have Muslim slaughtermen present to recite the "Tasmia" prayer, the indictment said according to AP. The plant was also not certified to export meat to Indonesia and Malaysia.
The meat was labeled, advertised, and sent to Islamic countries alleging that the product followed Islamic law.
Midamar, which is located in Iowa, is calling the charges against their company for the false advertisement a violation of the U.S. constitution's separation of church and state because of the way they are judging the halal practices, reported AP.
"The allegations of halal fraud are due to a 'one size fits all' approach taken by the government authorities," read a statement from Midamar.
Before these allegations against Midamar and Islamic Services of America were made public many Muslims were already skeptical about meat products that claim to meet halal standards, Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed, president of the Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products, said to AP. He adds that this new revelation will add to their suspicions.
