Meat [other than pork] that contains pork > Reviews (1)

Supposing you were allergic to something, for example nuts - and you buy a product which, on the ingredients, does not state that it does, or MAY contain nuts. You eat it, and then - well, we all know how bad things can be.

Now, I don't claim that people who don't eat pork have the same problems as people who can't eat nuts - not eating pork is a lifestyle choice, and not a life threatening issue.

My beef [excuse the pun]however, is with
products that are inadequately labelled.

I bought a barbecue flavoured whole chicken, was really looking forward dinner that evening. My husband, just out of curiosity was reading the label as I popped the bird in the oven. He said - "Indigo, did you know that this has got pork flavourings in it?" - "No -" I says. And I looked, and to my horror, the said was true. I pulled the chicken [if I may be so bold as to call it that] out, put it back in its wrapper, and proceeded to take it back from whence it came. I got a strange look from the customer service manager, but nonetheless got my money back.

You see, a lot of people who are on Pork restrictive diets, particularly 1st generation folk like my grandparents, do not read English so well. Sometimes shopping halal or kosher is not always possible. I'm not saying that manufacturers should stop using pork products - that is their choice - but I would like to have some sort of choice by way of more than adequate labelling - for example - "product contains pork".

I understand that a lot of it is demographic - but in certain areas, particularly in areas where it is densely populated with "ethnic minorities" - God I hate that term - there should be some provision. I remember once, I went to Tesco in Dundee and I was able to get things specific to Dundee, and when I went to Tesco in Thornton Heath [Croydon] I was able to get Caribbean products, because, Tesco, clever bots, realised that there was a gap in the market, and tailored their products to reflect local population. Well done Tesco: naughty naughty Safeway and Co-op Local.