6 days ago
Cardiff wholesaler owner jailed for fake halal meat
Two men have been sentenced for falsely distributing chicken as halal meat to restaurants and takeaways across south 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 Rahman, also 46 and from Cardiff, admitted the fraudulent trading offences before the trial started and was given a 24-month suspended 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 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 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.
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 was also used to process non-halal meat meaning that none of it could be accurately described as 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 prosecution said the names of the the businesses affected would not be read in court because of the "highly sensitive" nature of the 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 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".
