Muslim community lashes Pick n Pay for incorrect use of halaal logo
Posters caused outrage in the Muslim community
HUGE posters displayed at selected Pick n Pay stores have caused outrage in the Muslim community after a pie special was promoted with a South Africa National Halaal Authority (SANHA) logo on July 4.
The posters feature a SANHA logo and have details of a competition where shoppers stand a chance to win R1000 by buying any two Pick n Pay pies.
Rughsaar Bibi, who is job shadowing at the Southern COURIER, reported that her father saw the poster at a Pick n Pay in the South and immediately made further enquiries to the manager about the legitimacy of the usage of the logo promoting the pie special.
“I was with him at the shop when he pointed it out and then he showed me the tweet that said the SANHA logo was used incorrectly. He told me to look into it and inform the community about what was happening. We both felt what they were doing was really insensitive,” explained Rughsaar, a journalism student at Rhodes University.
SANHA public relations officer EBI Lockhat, said, “We received several telephonic and social media enquiries questioning the bona fides of the claim made by Pick n Pay since SANHA had not certified any of Pick n Pay’s bakeries. SANHA became aware of this over the past weekend, immediately contacted Pick n Pay and immediately alerted the community through social media platforms and community radio station. According to the information at our disposal and spot checks made at various locations in the country, it appears this promotion is running countrywide. While SANHA does not certify any Pick n Pay stores per se, Pick n Pay sources a plethora of products from SANHA certified manufacturers, which products would carry the halaal logo. Our alert was specific to the unauthorised use of the SANHA logo on the current pie promotion.”
Pick n Pay bakery manager Khama Seheri explained, “All our pies are halaal and are from Piemans. They all have the halaal logo on them. I’m not sure who authorized the SANHA logo but we took the promotional poster down because the competition was not doing well.”
