Karan Beef unfazed by meat saga
When we heard about the contamination of meat we all thought to ourselves; "thank goodness it does not affect us!" This was short lived, until the details of a study conducted by the University of Stellenbosh was released. It revealed that 63 % of meat products sold in supermarkets in South Africa were contaminated with horse, donkey, goat, buffalo etc.
This all made us question any type of meat that we are consuming. Over the weekend, a media house claimed to have tested I&J Patties which are prepared by Karan Beef . It claimed to have found that it too contain undisclosed ingredients such as traces of donkey meat.
This resulted in Karan Beef inviting the media to visit its premises in Balfour. Radio Islam International , together with representatives from the South African Nation Halaal Authority, and journalist from The Beeld, Business Day, E TV, Mail & Guardian etc. attended the media open day.
They were shown a brief video of the process, from the time when the cattle arrived in the feeding lots to when the meat is distributed as whole carcasses or taken to the processing plant to be made in to patties.
The media delegation was then taken to the plant where the patties are made. They were allowed to freely view the process of manufacturing patties.
The Chairman of Karan Beef, Ivor Karan, emphatically stated that only meat from the Karan Beef abbatoir was used on their premises. No other meat is purchased and brought onto their premises.
The entire Karan Beef abbatoir and meat processing plant is monitored by SANHA. They have 3 supervisors on site who are employed by SANHA.
Many journalist were totally ignorant of the concept of Halaal. They were given a briefing Halaal slathering by a representative from Sanha.
The entire experience was a fruitful one. Consumers can be assured that meat and patties from Karan Beef have not been contaminated with any undisclosed ingredients.
With all the unanswered questions that continue to hang over the meat industry of South Africa, many of the journalist left, feeling that the safest route to adopt was to consume Halaal meat.
Yusuf Moosagie
15th March 2013