Wakefield: Meat check failings behind halal mix-up at school

The principal at Outwood Primary Academy Greenhill has written to parents and carers

Primary school pupils expecting halal meat may have been served food which breached the Islamic rule due to a failure in checks, a school has said.

In June, it was discovered some meat served to pupils at Outwood Primary Academy Greenhill may not have been halal despite menus stating it was.

The head of the Wakefield school said the certification of the meat was not checked during initial processes.

The trust said steps had been taken to ensure it did not happen again.

The school had previously been overseen by Wakefield Council but transferred to Outwood Grange Academies Trust in September 2022 after being given an "inadequate" Ofsted rating.

In a letter to parents and carers, trust interim chief executive Lee Wilson set out the background and findings of the food investigation, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

'Further steps'

He said the failings came to light when the school switched catering provision to an external contractor.

Mr Wilson said: "The menus at that time included halal meat as part of the regular offer.

"Unfortunately we did not check the certification of the meat as part of our initial processes.

"We have now implemented further steps as part of our due diligence to ensure that this is always checked."

Halal is Arabic for permissible. Halal food is that which adheres to Islamic law, as defined in the Koran.

The letter added: "The investigation found no evidence of any intentional act to mislead parents, carers, children, staff and community or intentionally order and use non-halal products."

'Not good enough'

Trading Standards carried out a separate investigation which found the meat served was "highly likely" to have been halal.

Mr Wilson said: "We know that is not good enough reassurance and does not meet our high standards and expectations.

"We are sincerely sorry and have taken steps to strengthen the trust's processes."

Trading Standards officers made a number of recommendations, including carrying out spot checks and obtaining written agreements from suppliers.

The school's meat products now come from two suppliers who have Halal Monitoring Committee accreditation.

A spokesperson for the trust said it it offered a "sincere apology".