DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — A lunchtime mistake has one of the first school districts in America to serve halal foods issuing an apology.
Dearborn Public Schools sent a letter to parents after serving pizza containing pork to middle school students practicing the Muslim faith and observing halal.
Parents tell me it was deeply disturbing to learn that kids observing halal as part of their Muslim faith were mistakenly served food with pork. The district tells me they’ve taken several new steps to correct what happened, along with issuing an apology.
In this letter to O.L. Middle School parents from Dearborn Public Schools, the interim superintendent describes a period of 8 school days from February 23rd through March 5th when 206 servings of pepperoni pizza containing a mix of beef and pork were mistakenly served to students.
They say the non-halal food represented 7-percent of total meals during a typical 8-day time frame and while there was no malicious intent, the district offers “most sincere apologies & a promise to ensure this does not occur in the future…”
"I just felt really bad that it happened. I felt bad that there were people that had the expectation of having, you know, halal food and that that happened," said parent Robbin Makled.
Some parents I talked to expressed a range of disappointment that this happened during the holy period of Ramadan and violated strict rules against consuming pork as part of their Muslim faith.
“That’s the main reason we don’t eat non-halal food. Because it’s against our religion," said parent Amlaki Naser-Aldeen.
Sabah Beydoun, another parent, said: “It all has an effect. Spiritually, physically, it’s even not good for a human being.”
In the letter, the district identifies steps taken, saying they met with parents and conducted an audit confirming no other non-halal products were served.
Halal includes a specific method of preparing food—with certain food being forbidden to consume.
Dearborn schools is implementing mandatory training and new safeguards, adding they acted swiftly in this matter.
"They're wonderful people. They care very deeply about the kids, so I felt bad that this happened to them," said Makled.
“My son, he attend to O. L. Smith, and I didn’t know about that until now, until you told me. If they mean it, it will be the first and the last time, yes. If they apologized, that’s enough for us for now," said Naser-Aldeen.
The district tells me they’ve also added a second halal-verified food provider to their vendor list, as part of their corrective action.
