Ham found in Muslim sandwich

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Monday 15th Sep 2003.

A Muslim woman was left outraged when she found ham in the middle of a supermarket's tuna mayonnaise sandwich.

Bradford family support worker Amreen Mughar, whose religion bans her from eating pig meat, says she choked when she made the discovery in her Morrisons sandwich.

She claimed the situation was made even worse by the fact that she has been buying her vegetarian lunchtime sandwiches from the supermarket's Thornbury store for the last two years - believing them to be suitable for Muslims.

Today Morrisons bosses did admit that their tuna sandwiches made in store could not be guaranteed not to come into contact with any ham.

Disgusted, Amreen, 26, took the half-eaten sandwich back in its wrapper to the store and refused customer services' offers or a refund and vouchers.

"I didn't want my money back or any vouchers. I wanted their reassurance that their vegetarian sandwiches don't come in to contact with ham or pork - but they said they couldn't guarantee it."

Amreen says although the supermarket's non-meat sandwiches don't carry a vegetarian symbol, the store is still misleading Muslims and vegetarians who believe they are eating food that's suitable for them.

She said: "As a Muslim I can't eat ham or pork or anything that's been touched by it."

Now she wants Morrisons to agree to display notices at all its sandwich counters telling people that its vegetarian fillings could have come into contact with meat while being made.

"If they don't put up these notices then the best thing for Muslims and vegetarians would be to completely boycott Morrisons sandwiches until they do."

A Morrisons spokesman said today: "We are sorry to learn of this unfortunate incident and have apologised fully to the lady concerned.

"We do not make any claim that sandwiches prepared for our sandwich bars are suitable for vegetarians. Our deputy store manager did speak to the lady who found the ham and she was offered a full refund together with a gesture of our goodwill.

"We produce hundreds of sandwiches in-store on a daily basis for our sandwich bars and in all of our preparation areas, staff work to stringent guidelines.

"We will be looking into what has happened on this occasion."

He said none of the sandwiches made in-store in the sandwich bar could be guaranteed for vegetarians as tuna and ham sandwiches were made side by side.

But he said pre-prepared sandwiches made out of store came with a stamp which guaranteed them suitable for vegetarians.

Source