Man jailed for selling fake halal meat to restaurants

Helim Miah was the owner of Universal Food Wholesale Limited

Two men have been sentenced for falsely distributing chicken as halal meat to restaurants and takeaways across south Wales.

Helim Miah, 46, of Kilcredaun House, Cardiff, who owned Universal Food Wholesale Limited, was found guilty after a trial earlier this year and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for fraudulent trading and trading whilst bankrupt.

Noaf Rahman, also 46 and from Cardiff, admitted the fraudulent trading offences before the trial started and was given a 24-month suspended sentence.

The offences came to light following an investigation which led to 2,840kg of frozen meat being seized from the pair's warehouse in Cardiff.

Prosecutor Alex Greenwood told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court that over a five-year period, consumers of restaurants and takeaways "were in fact consuming non-halal products as a result of the criminality of these two defendants".

An investigation was conducted by Cardiff and the Vale Shared Regulatory Services in January 2019.

It found meat was not properly traceable, sell-by dates were altered and the chicken was not properly chilled when it was transported in dirty vans across south and west Wales.

The court heard that the takeaways and restaurants believed they were dealing with a number of different companies and all believed they were buying Halal chicken.

Halal meat is food that adheres to Islamic law as defined in the Koran

Some of the chicken had been bought in as halal meat, but correct hygiene procedures had not been followed in the "cutting room" of the warehouse.

It was also used to process non-halal meat meaning that none of it could be accurately described as halal.

There were long periods of time when the warehouse did not receive halal meat from wholesalers, but continued to supply chicken to restaurants and takeaways who believed it was halal.

The prosecution said the names of the the businesses affected would not be read in court because of the "highly sensitive" nature of the offences.

Mr Greenwood said that the companies set up by the pair enabled them to hide "behind a corporate veil" which was deliberately created to provide a "confusing trail".

Judge Vanessa Francis said that the pair had a "cavalier attitude" and were equally culpable.

She added that the "harm in my view is extensive" and that there were "flagrant breaches over a significant period of time".

Judge Francis said: "This was a disaster waiting to happen and it is a matter of relief that it never did with the unsafe meat sent out of your premises."

She added that the "societal impact" was "difficult to quantify".