Row brewing over halal meat regulation

An organisation which licenses companies dealing in halal meat has been accused of bullying the firms it regulates.

The Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) was set up in 2003 in Leicester, with the aim of carrying out inspections in abattoirs and meat wholesalers and to monitor butchers. In return the businesses would be given a HMC licence - and pay a monthly fee.
Some retailers have complained the HMC is too heavy-handed, uses bullying tactics to get them to join the scheme and are just in it to make money.
But the HMC said it existed to give people peace of mind over quality of food, that it wanted to protect high standards and was not bullying anyone.

Mehboob Ayub, who has a butcher's shop in Huddersfield, alleged that HMC inspectors threatened him, tried to damage his property and told people in the local mosque not buy his meat.
"They tried to push me in my shop and argue with me, they tried to take my posters down and have been telling people in the local mosque not to buy meat from my shop," Mr Ayub said.
"I buy my meat from a HMC-registered slaughterhouse, my wholesaler has a HMC licence, so why should I pay them £30 a week to sell the meat? They just want money."
The HMC denies his claims, saying it does not go into mosques and "shame" retailers.