Pig DNA Found in Halal Meat in Moscow

Pig DNA has been found in sausages and ham produced at a halal meat processing plant in Moscow, fresh testing results revealed Wednesday, although this does not necessarily mean that the products actually contain pork, a spokesman for the institute that conducted the tests said. (Halal means meat prepared as prescribed by Muslim law.) “The DNA traces that have been discovered may be a result of contact with raw meat consisting of pork or pork products,” said Boris Gutnik of the Gorbatov All-Russian Meat Research Institute. Gutnik called for checks to be conducted at the slaughterhouses, saying that if cattle were slaughtered in the same place as pigs, that could explain the presence of the pig DNA in the halal products. The institute spokesman said that all the facilities and equipment that Moscow’s Tsaritsino meat processing plant uses to produce halal meat are “completely separate from other processes.” Moscow’s Tsaritsino meat processing plant has been supplying halal meat products to the Russia Mufties Council’s International Center for Halal Standardization and Certification since 2007.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130327/180281741/Pig-DNA-Found-in-Halal-Meat-Plant-in-Moscow.html