A WARNING FROM DICK SMITH:
You may be aware that "Dick Smith" chain franchise stores are being pressured by the Islamic Council of Australia to gain 'Halal Certification' otherwise they willbe proscribed and banned from Muslim custom.This is their response:
A MESSAGE FROM DICK SMITH.
"We at Dick Smith's have received a number of letters from people asking if wewill be putting the Muslim Halal logo on our food.
To acquire Halal certification, payment is required to the endorsing body(the Islamic Council) and involves a number of site inspections of bothour growers and processors in order to ensure that our practices complywith the conditions of Halal certification.
It is important to note that this does not reflect the quality of the foodbeing processed or sold – it only means that the products are approvedas being prepared in accordance with the traditions of the Muslim faith. We are aware of an increasing number of large companies both in Australia and overseas, such as Kraft and Cadbury, who have obtained accreditation to use the Halal logo. We don’t believe they have done this because of any religious commitment but rather for purely commercial reasons. Perhaps these large organisations can afford to do this. While we have a choice however, we would prefer to avoid unnecessarily increasing the cost of our products in order to pay for Halal accreditation when this money would be better spent continuing to support important charitable causes where assistance is greatly needed.
We point out that we have never been asked to put a Christian symbol(or any other religious symbol) on our food requiring that we send money to a Christian organisation for the right to do so.
Others would add that money paid to ANY Muslim 'organisation'(and you had better believe it: these people ARE 'organised') can easily find its way into the hands of Islamic extremist-fanatics and murderers,irrespective of assurances to the contrary. What other assurances do we accept from Muslims? Oh, that's right,
'Islam is a religion of PEACE'!