Source: Hindu Council UK
LONDON, UK, June 8, 2009: Hindus in Britain who eat chicken may have also, quite unknowingly, been eating beef and pork for at least the last two years. Tests performed by the Food Standards Authority (FSA) have confirmed that food manufacturers in three EU states have been using bulking agents made from pork and beef to inflate chicken breasts for sale to the UK market.
Hindus are forbidden by their religion to eat beef, and the Hindu Council UK (HCUK) has reacted to the news with shock and disgust. Anil Bhanot, General Secretary of the HCUK said, “For many Hindus, to eat beef is as bad as cannibalism. All branches of Hinduism revere cows because they give milk to humanity, as a mother does to her child. The companies who hoodwinked us by not fully disclosing the nature of the ingredients they have used to plump up chickens artificially ought to be reprimanded through all legal channels. At least then any Hindu who has unknowingly eaten these chicken products will feel some degree of cleansing.”
The companies managed to get away with their actions because the pork and beef additives had been so highly processed they did not show up in standard tests. It wasn’t until the FSA developed new, highly sophisticated tests that the swindle came to light. The FSA has now advised Hindus to avoid chicken products labelled as containing “hydrolised (chicken) proteins,” and to ask in restaurants whether chicken products contain hydrolyzed animal proteins.