One of the country’s leading food companies — CDO Foodsphere — has been flagged by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos for allegedly using pork derivatives on its products that are supposed to be halal or fit for the consumption of Muslims.

CDO promptly denied in a social media post the allegation made by the NCMF, an attached agency of the Office of the President.

The claim against CDO was based on tests conducted by NCMF’s South Luzon Regional Office and the Department of Science and Technology on processed meat products.

“According to the results of the laboratory tests conducted on coded blind samples, five of 51 products bearing the “Halal” logo were found to have been contaminated with porcine (pork) or its derivatives,” the test result said.

Among the products allegedly found to contain porcine additives were CDO Chicken Franks, Holiday Chicken Hotdog, CDO Ulam Burger, CDO Crispy Chicken Burger, and CDO Chicken Flakes.

Muslims are not allowed food items that contain alcohol, pork, carrion, the meat of carnivores, and animals that died due to illness, injury, stunning, poisoning or slaughtering not done in the name of God.

Not accredited?

The NCMF further revealed that the Halal-certifier of the CDO products was not accredited by the Commission. “The Muslim Community is advised accordingly,” the advisory said.

But in its official Facebook page, CDO Foodsphere maintained that all its products are halal or lawful for consumption by any Muslim in any part of the world as certified by Ulama Conference of the Philippines.”

“The said products do not contain pork derivatives, HARAM, or any other elements of impurities as defined under the Islamic Shariah Law,” the company said.

They also urged the public to avoid false and unverified information.

“CDO Foodsphere takes regulatory compliance with utmost priority and ensures that all our products secure proper registration and certification that would allow us to produce and distribute to the market,” the statement read.

With this, the Alliance for the Halal Integrity in the Philippines Inc. will visit the manufacturing plant of CDO in Malvar, Batangas on 16 March 2023, along with representatives from the two Halal certifying bodies.

The trip is intended to ascertain and discover the truth about “Public Advisory” of NCMF on the five identified frozen meat products of CDO Foodsphere.

Random samples of the frozen meat products in the processing plant; at the meat cold storage; and at a supermarket, will be taken for testing in full view of the members of the media.