The Catering team have been working hard to establish a proven and secure method for producing halal food for our colleagues who practise the Muslim faith.
The new menu launches today Monday 25th July, a taster session being held last Wednesday for a few colleagues.
Imam Khalid Ibrahim and Imam Naeem Toorawa from pastoral care and a few other recognisable faces enjoyed trying the menu and were able to discuss with the chef, the planning that has gone into the design and preparation of the food on offer from Monday 25th July 2022.
Andrew Dunne deputy catering manager who organised the taster session held on Wednesday said.
“We as a team are delighted to be able to offer this service to the many colleagues who have long wanted to eat in our restaurants, confident in the knowledge that food they consume, is prepared in accordance with their faith. The catering team work hard to produce over 1200 meals a day for both patients and colleagues and this development is something we are particularly proud of. Independently verified processes are rigorously adhered to and I invite everyone to try the new range of food on offer throughout the Trust”
Imam Naeem Toorawa, who took the lead from the Pastoral team said
“We once again express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the trust for upholding our values by recognising the need and understanding the significance to cater and provide Halal food for service users. Not only by allowing us but encouraging us to put a robust system in place through which we can confidently assure service users that the food is Halal. A huge thank you to catering team especially Andrew Dunne and Paul Harris for their extremely hard work to ensure that the food Halal but also enriched with a good variety and delicious taste”
A bit of background to halal food
Islam generally considers every food halal unless it is specifically prohibited by the Hadith or the Qur’an. Specifically, halal foods are those that are:
- Made, produced, manufactured, processed, and stored using machinery, equipment, and/or utensils that have been cleaned according to Islamic law (Shariah).
- Free from any component that Muslims are prohibited from eating according to Islamic law.
The most common example of haram (non-halal) food is pork.
While pork is the only meat that categorically may not be consumed by Muslims (the Quran forbids it, Surah 2:173 and 16:115) other foods not in a state of purity are also considered haram.
The criteria for non-pork items include their source, the cause of the animal's death and how it was processed.
Most Islamic scholars consider shellfish and other seafood halal.
Vegetarian food is halal if it does not contain alcohol.
In case you are wondering, Halal food is already available for patients across our hospitals, the food being prepared and packaged by a certified outside source.
