15 JULY 2004 - EAST LONDON BRANCH OF THE HMC


Alhamdulillah, with the help of the Almighty, we are pleased to announce the opening of the East London branch of the HMC.

The branch which is presently looking for a permanent office was set up after HMC was invited by Moulana Ismail Gangat to deliver a presentation to the Ulama of London at the Azhar Academy in April. This was followed up by a series of meetings between London Ulama and HMC, and simultaneously some butcher shops in East London expressing interest in selling only HMC certified meat and poultry.

This resulted in the appointment of Mufti Saleem Ismail as the East London-HMC (EL-HMC) coordinator, initially concentrating on the areas from Stratford to Ilford.

A.M. & Sons in Belgrave Road, Ilford, became the first to sign a contract with HMC in May, and has now received its HMC certificate. Bismillah Halal Meat on Upton Lane is the second the second shop in East London to be certified by HMC.

Mufti Saleem said, “This is a great initiative which gives the Muslim consumers in East London a choice”, and talking about the huge task ahead, “There are over fifty Halal meat shops in this area, and there is a lot of work to do. Presently we do not have the capacity to pro-actively approach all the Halal meat shops in the area as we are pre-occupied dealing with those who have contacted us. In the past week, we have been contacted by four other meat shops in the area interested in working with HMC.”