A pulled pork sandwich item listed on Carleton’s residence cafeteria menu was flagged as halal, according to a photo retrieved on March 25 by the Charlatan.
The incident has brought several students forward about a lack of halal options and cross-contamination in Carleton’s residence cafeteria.
Locations on campus for Carleton dining services, including the Caf, use a labelling system that show icons for food items catering to specific diets for students. This includes icons for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, sustainable seafood, locally grown, and halal foods.
In the Islamic faith, pork is not allowed to be consumed, and meats such as chicken or beef must be prepared in a “halal” method, using a specific set of guidelines that include recitations of prayers before an animal is slaughtered to be consumed.
Saad Khan, a first-year engineering student who lives in residence, said he was “stunned” to see the menu item when he walked into the Caf on Monday evening.
“At first, I thought it was a beef burger that was being served because I just saw the “Halal” icon,” he said. “And then I realized, ‘no, no, no, it’s pork,’ and how can pork be halal?”
Khan said he spoke with the chefs in the Caf after noticing the sign. He said he saw the sign taken down on his next visit for dinner about three hours later.
Paul Quinn, the East Canada district manager for Aramark—Carleton’s food service provider—said Aramark apologizes for the mislabelling.
“We sincerely apologize for the mislabelling of this product, and are working on reviewing all of our signage to ensure that this does not happen again,” Quinn said in an email.
“We work hard with our culinary and nutrition team to ensure that we provide food that caters to a wide variety of dietary needs, including consideration for religious needs by offering halal products.”
But, Anosha Qureshi, a first-year commerce student, said this incident isn’t the first time she’s seen mislabelling of halal products in the Caf.
“When I saw this kind of thing before, it wasn’t even a sandwich or anything, it was just the actual meat—like pork—and my friends and I were just like, ‘how’s that even possible?’” she said.
Qureshi said she’s seen several instances of other kinds of meat in the Caf that were labelled as halal chicken, but were later found to be pork.
“It’s come to a point where it’s almost like this happens almost every day,” she said. “I barely have any halal options when I go into the Caf.”
Carleton students can purchase three types of meal plans for the Caf: an all-access plan for $2,450, a 1,000-meal plan for $1,000, and a 500-meal plan for $500.
Qureshi said most students in residence opt for the all-access meal plan. But, she said while she’s not sure whether she’ll stay in residence next year, she definitely “won’t be eating from the Caf at this point, because the money’s wasted.”
Mohammed Ali, a second-year aerospace engineering student, said he agreed with Qureshi.
“I think the biggest problem for me is how they don’t label gelatin in desserts and whether it’s halal or not,” he said.
Gelatin is a gelling product commonly used in desserts such as jelly or candy, which is made up of animals such as pork or cows.
“I personally have stopped eating desserts completely because when I spoke with a chef about this problem, he told me he himself wasn’t sure about whether or not the gelatin was halal or not,” Ali said.
Sissi De Flaviis, vice-president (administration) for the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), said RRRA’s food services committee was very concerned about this incident when they learned about it.
RRRA is a union that represents the interests of students living in residence at Carleton.
“We have students coming into Carleton from all across the world, so regardless of your religion, or your views, everyone should feel comfortable, and everyone should be able to call it a safe space where what you eat isn’t hard to find,” De Flaviis said.
According to Carleton’s regulations, a product can only labelled “Halal” when it excludes foods that are “haram” (prohibited in Islam).
But, De Flaviis said apart from frequent mislabelling, the Caf has commonly been reported to use the same cooking utensils for both halal and non-halal foods.
“In previous years, we hadn’t seen halal options readily available in the Caf, so that’s definitely improved,” De Flaviis said. “But, from what I’ve gathered, a lack of options isn’t the only problem in the Caf. It’s also the cross-contamination that goes on.”
Foods contaminated by the haram products cannot be deemed halal as per the regulations required by the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of Canada (IFNCC).
“For example, at the egg station, they are supposed to have two different pans for halal and non-halal [diets],” De Flaviis said, “but, I’ve seen and been told from many different students that they use the same thing for everything, and that’s an issue.”
Quinn told the Charlatan that Aramark works with “certified Halal protein suppliers to ensure that Halal certification is up to date, and certificates are available for customers to see upon request.”
Certifications requested by the Charlatan showed that the Halal Monitoring Authority (HMA) and the IFNCC had determined the Caf’s chicken suppliers—Sargent Farms and Maple Lodge Farms, respectively—are authenticated to be halal until Dec. 31, 2019.
But, the certifications did not show anything about beef or the preparation of chicken within the kitchens of the Caf.
De Flaviis said RRRA has looked into halal certification with the Caf before, and said she “finds it strange how they don’t have certification on an ongoing basis.”
She said RRRA’s food services committee is currently in the midst of setting up a meeting with Aramark to discuss this incident and other concerns raised by students about halal options in the Caf.
File Photo
