Tri-anger: Fury among Europe’s far right as Toblerone is granted halal status – but perplexed chocolate fans point out nothing has changed and the recipe has ALWAYS been acceptable
- Swiss tabloid Blick ran a story on Toblerone’s halal certification on Sunday
- A far right German politician wrote that it was part of the ‘Islamization’ of Europe
- But in fact all vegetarian foods that don’t contain alcohol are halal
Members of the European far right have declared war on Toblerone after discovering that the chocolate is halal-certified, in a move described as ‘peak outrage’.
Internet users called for a boycott of the popular triangular shaped chocolate bar after the Swiss tabloid Blick ignited the furore on Sunday by running a story titled ‘Toblerone is now halal’.
The storm gathered momentum when Jörg Meuthen, spokesman for the far right nationalist part Alternative for Germany posted about it to his Facebook followers on Monday.
‘Islamization is not taking place – neither in Germany nor in Europe,’ he wrote sarcastically alongside a picture of Toblerone.
Jörg Meuthen, spokesman for the far right nationalist part Alternative for Germany wrote on Facebook on Monday that Toblerone receiving halal certification was part of the ‘Islamization’ of Europe
Toblerone, a Swiss chocolate brand owned by US confectionery company Mondelēz International Inc., has always been halal because contains no meat or alcohol
‘It is therefore certainly pure coincidence that the depicted, famous chocolate variety is now certified as ‘HALAL’.’
Halal means ‘permissible’ in Arabic, and is used to denote what is acceptable or unacceptable for Muslims under Islamic law outlined in the Koran.
-
‘At the very least, we’ll embarrass them’: American parents’…
Fraudster who made £180,000 bogus insurance claims including…
Share this article
It can refer to any lifestyle choice including clothing, recreation and cosmetics as well as diet, but when applied to food halal means that an animal must be slaughtered by a Muslim by cutting its throat without stunning it first.
Vegetarian cuisine is always halal if it does not contain alcohol.
Therefore Toblerone, a Swiss chocolate brand owned by US confectionery company Mondelēz International Inc., has always been halal because contains no meat or alcohol.
Meuthen’s post was copied numerous times across social media platforms, with numerous people tweeting that they would never buy the chocolate again
The recipe has not changed, but some eight months ago its factory in the Swiss capital Bern received halal certification.
Meuthen’s post was copied numerous times across social media platforms, with numerous people tweeting that they would never buy the chocolate again.
But others ridiculed the social media storm, pointing out that Toblerone was just making it clearer to Muslim customers that they can eat the chocolate too.
Mondelēz, which produces Toblerone said in a statement to CNN: ‘The certification did not result in any change to our beloved traditional Toblerone original recipe.
‘Due to the inherent nature of Toblerone chocolate its production process essentially meets the halal criteria anyway.’
Internet users threatened to boycott the popular chocolate bar after the Swiss tabloid Blick ignited the furore on Sunday by running a story titled ‘Toblerone is now halal’
The Toblerone saga is reminicient of March 2017, when British chocolate-maker Cadbury was forced to spend hours responding to furious customers after fake reports its chocolate was halal went viral.
The chocolate giant faced a backlash on Twitter by users demanding to know if its Easter eggs were halal-certified after a photo appeared to show a rep in Malaysia with a certificate confirming it was.
The far right group EDL (English Defence League) posted a Facebook message urging consumers to boycott the company and some consumers even accused the brand of ‘Muslim appeasement’.
The firm was also accused of removing the word ‘Easter’ from its eggs, which it denied.
Source: Read Full Article