LEYTON: Fast food giant to launch halal menu (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

LEYTON: Fast food giant to launch halal menu

4:03pm Thursday 7th May 2009 in Waltham Forest News By Mhairi Macfarlane

Kentucky Fried Chicken on Lea Bridge Road

FAST-FOOD giant Kentucky Fried Chicken is to launch one its first stores offering a strictly halal menu in Leyton.

The Lea Bridge Road branch is one of eight stores nationwide to be part of a trial to sell only meat that has been prepared in the way in accordance with Islamic tradition and to ban pork entirely from the menu.

The stores have been selected where there is a large Muslim community and will have signs on entry confirming that they have been fully approved by the Halal Food Authority.

To make meat halal, the live animal has to have its throat cut by a Muslim who is reciting a dedication. The carcass must then be hung to allow the blood to drain out of it.

Some non-Muslims are concerned about the way animals die during halal preparation if the animal is not stunned first and the death is prolonged.

But Mark Dawes from the Waltham Forest and Redbridge Green Party, which campaigns for animal welfare, said there is little difference between the two methods.

He said: “The primary consideration should be the welfare of the animal and the way it is slaughtered. But you have to respect different cultures obviously.

“There tends to be an argument that stunning the animal is okay and that halal can be cruel, but I don’t think that is true. I think both can be pretty cruel.

“But 90 per cent of halal meat in this country is stunned, which is good. So the difference between the two methods in industrial processes is not vast.

“As a vegetarian though, I think not eating meat is the best option to avoid animal cruelty.”

KFC vice president, marketing, Jennelle Tilling said: “For some time we have had requests to provide halal food in parts of the UK. As a result, we are running a halal trial in eight stores in London.

“We want to see how customers respond to the trial, to see if this is something that allows us to make our great tasting food available to a broader range of customers.”

President of the Halal Food Authority Masood Khawaja said: “The Muslim community can now enjoy all the products in this trial in eight participating halal-approved restaurants, as these have been procured with full adherence to both Islamic dietary rules and relevant EU hygiene, food safety and animal welfare regulations.”

In February, Dominos Pizza launched its first menu on halal-only meat and no pork at a branch in Hall Green, Birmingham, which serves an area with a large Muslim population.

A Domino's spokeswoman said it had no plans to do a halal menu in Waltham Forest, but it is something it might consider in the future.

A spokesman for McDonalds, which trialed a halal-only menu in a Southall restaurant, also said it had no current plans to offer halal food in the borough.

The stores that will take part in the trial are Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, Beckton, Edmonton, Hounslow West, Upton Park, Forest Gate, Bethnal Green and Tottenham Hale.

All participating stores have a non-halal store nearby.