Muslims Protest Over UK Pet Food Factory
allaboutfeed.net, Doetinchem, (Netherlands), July 31, 2007
In the UK, a group of Muslims have opposed plans for a pet food factory to be built as possible pork emissions will violate their religious rights.
Butchers Pet Care planned their factory in Coton Park, near Rugby. One angry family who live less than 100 yards from the proposed factory, but who did not wish to be identified, said: “A significant proportion of meats used in the pet foods processes are pig meat. “Our religion expressly forbids us to consume pig meat in any form. “Because of the way in which this meat material will leave the factory and give that the area can be ‘rained upon’ we will be consuming pork via inhalation of this ‘rain’. “Not only that but our clothes will be contaminated by pork.”
Respect the religions
Coton Park Residential Association spokesperson Grant Scott said: “Several families have complained because of the smell of the pork, and also if the factory is cooking with it, pork particles and odour could rain down on them from the chimney at some point.
“It was something we hadn’t taken on board before but it’s definitely important and is a very delicate issue. “If Muslims are unhappy about it, then Jews may complain for the same reason, and Hindus may complain because of their beliefs about cows being sacred animals. “There is a significant Muslim element in our area, so there is a potential problem.” “We feel sure that there are other areas where this factory could be built that would not impact on us or others like us.”
Not many pork ingredients
The pet food company said there is an ‘almost 99% guarantee’ the smell of pork would not reach the Coton Meadows residential area. A statement from Butchers Pet Care said: “The majority of our natural products are beef and poultry. “Pork ingredients account for less than 10% of our range. “At Coton Park we plan to introduce state-of-the-art odour extraction through the chimney stack.
The Environmental Health Agency are investigating the potential affects, with a decision about the factory’s future due in September.
