Halal mislabeling: Three-year probation for Midamar exec ‘not enough’ - experts
The first sentence handed down in a halal mislabeling conspiracy case is not sitting well with halal industry experts, who are calling the penalty too lenient.
Philip G. Payne, the former operations manager at Iowa-based food producer Midamar Corp., pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy in a scheme to falsely label beef shipped to Indonesia and Malaysia as halal. On Oct 2, he was sentenced to a three-year term of probation and fined $20,000.
“It is not enough,” says food-regulation expert Hassan Bayrakdar, managing director of the Dubai-based Raqam Consultancy. “It should be a more severe reaction, for example, to shut down the company for [a] time. As a Muslim I don’t want other companies to follow this and profit millions and after that pay peanuts. To be [given] a probation period is not enough.”
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