Aldi has apologised to customers after boxes of its frozen Oakhurst turkey crowns were mislabelled as halal-certified.

An Aldi customer, Pip Singh, contacted the discounter last week, posting a photo of a cardboard box of Oakhurst turkey crowns with the word ‘halal’ written on the side on its Facebook page. 

It sparked a chain of comments on the Facebook page from other Aldi customers, who were concerned that the turkey was halal.

One Facebook member, Ray Hall, asked: “Can anyone tell me if this halal meat story is true, this will put me off shopping there for good!”

Another, Sarah Chapman, asked: “I’ve got an Oakhurst stuffed turkey crown in my freezer. Is this halal, because if so you can have it back.”

Aldi told The Grocer: “We have now investigated this matter with our supplier, who has advised us that the outer casing was incorrectly labelled as halal-certified. This did not affect the product packaging and the supplier has since given us written confirmation that the animals had not been subject to ritual slaughters.”

Aldi apologised to shoppers for any confusion caused by the “unfortunate and isolated matter” and said that customers who were not satisfied could return their purchase to a store for a full refund.

It added: “Aldi does not label any products as halal-certified and, as a responsible retailer, it is committed to ensuring that the animals used in its products are reared and slaughtered to relevant industry standards covering animal welfare.

Shoppers were also concerned because the country of origin on the boxes of frozen Oakhurst turkey crowns was Chile whereas Aldi advertises that all of its fresh meat is 100% British.

Aldi told The Grocer: “All of Aldi’s core range of everyday fresh meat is 100% British, Red Tractor-approved and is clearly labelled with all relevant accreditations. Where frozen meat products, such as the Oakhurst Turkey Crown, are not from the UK, the country of origin is clearly labelled.

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