PizzaExpress has come under criticism after it was revealed it was only serving halal chicken across its 434 sites but had declined to mention this on .
Halal chicken has been introduced after feedback from Muslim customers and follows a move by 185 Subway sites in the UK last week to serve only halal meat.
A PizzaExpress spokesman said: “We serve halal chicken in all our restaurants – PizzaExpress is committed to animal welfare standards. As such the birds are stunned before being slaughtered. We are very happy to provide this information to our guests. We spend a lot of time listening to our guests and do our best to cater to their needs. Whether this means creating vegan-friendly pizzas or serving halal chicken, we take their feedback seriously.”
Colin Hart, of the Christian Institute, argued that PizzaExpress should be upfront about the meat it is serving. He said: “It’s great that PizzaExpress have shown sensitivity to Muslims. How about them showing sensitivity to people who don’t want to eat halal food. I’ve eaten in PizzaExpress many times but didn’t realise halal meat was on the menu. Why are they hiding this? And why won’t they give people a choice?”
Qualified meat inspector Richard North claimed PizzaExpress had gone the halal-only route on chicken to save money. He said: “Keeping halal and non-halal meat is expensive and creates the risk of non-halal being fed to Muslims.”
