A man has appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court accused of falsely distributing halal meat to businesses in south Wales.
The BBC has reported that Hamil Miah, formerly the owner of Universal Food Wholesale Limited, of Cardiff, has appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court accused of supplying chicken that was not halal to restaurants and takeaways in Cardiff, Newport, and Blaenau Gwent.
Prosecuting barrister Alex Greenwood told the court that Miah’s company had done no due diligence when labelling its food products. Benjamin Waidhofer, defending, said that Miah has denied buying or supplying meat that was not halal and stated that Universal Food Wholesale Limited had supplied dried foods to companies in south Wales but not chicken.
Details of the trial
According to the BBC, the prosecution said that previously Miah had told law enforcement officers that the sale of halal chicken was dealt with by a separate company owned by a “childhood friend”.
The report states that Miah told the court that if workers in the cutting room, where the chicken was prepared, were “lazy or dishonest”, he could not control that, and that they should be held responsible.
Greenwood put it to Miah that he had made it impossible to know that he was selling the products, saying that the companies involved were “just badges of convenience behind which you hide”.
The trial is ongoing.
