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Last Updated: Jun 25th, 2007 - 17:07:26 |
After taking the first step and providing Halal meat at the Johnson Center Convenience Store, George Mason University’s Student Senate is now required to find a new distributor because of a failed Sodexho food inspection reported Thursday morning.
Ryan Bloomfield, a Student Senator, has been leading the process of attempting to provide more venues for Halal meat, which is meat slaughtered in the manner prescribed by Islamic law.
Washington Lamb, the initial distributor, failed the Sodexho food inspection after Bloomfield and the newly-formed focus group alongside him spent three months on the first attempt to make Halal food accessible to Muslim students on campus.
“I started noticing that my Muslim roommate was not eating on campus because he couldn’t eat the food available,” said Bloomfield. “I then contacted the Muslim Students Association President and we talked about what could get accomplished.”
According to a Halal Food Research Study conducted by MSA, 48 percent of participants said they would not eat on campus as long as Halal meals are unavailable.
The study presented to the focus group on Jan. 29 also indicated that 100 percent of participants would choose Halal meat if they were offered a choice between Halal and non-Halal meals.
Receiving support from the Muslim Students Association, the Arab Students Association, the Persian Club, the Pakistani Students Association, the Turkish Students Association and the Bengali Patriots, Bloomfield and Senator Lena Mualla were able to launch the process on offering Halal meat on campus by working with the focus group, consisting of student senators, various organization presidents and university administrators to then pass a resolution to the Student Senate.
The Student Senate passed Resolution 19 on Nov. 2, 2006 stating the need for Halal meat to be incorporated into the food choices on campus on the basis that “George Mason has a sizeable Muslim population that does not have access to Halal (permissible) meat through any of the venues that Sodexho provides.”
The resolution continues to say that currently, “a lot of those students have to either eat off campus or are left no choice but to eat the other food on campus going against Islamic law.”
In a Dec. 12 meeting with representatives from Dining Services including Dining Services Director of Marketing and Community Affairs Michael Galvin concerns were raised saying that before Dining Services invested their resources to make Halal food available on campus, they want to be certain that students will actually be eating at the respective venues.
Nonetheless, the study indicated that 69 percent of participants said if Halal meat was offered on campus, they would completely avoid the non-Halal meals.
As of Jan. 29, Halal meat was offered at the convenience store, however Bloomfield and his committee will now have to start over and locate an alternative distributor.
“We’re going to look at Northwestern University to see who their distributor is and we’ll use whatever they’re using,” said Bloomfield.
Northwestern’s catering is also run by Sodexho, so going through the approval process will not be necessary.
Resolution 19 states that if Halal meals were made available on campus, “it would be beneficial for Muslim students and Non-Muslim students alike, because it would provide the necessary food for Muslim students to fulfill their religious obligations and for non-Muslims, it would introduce new food choices.”
Bloomfield said the goals he hopes to accomplish involve expanding the convenience store’s options to include microwavable Halal and Kosher foods, grab-n-go sandwiches, and to have Halal meat available in the convenience store in the upcoming Northeast Sector.
“Administrators in charge during the process said they were shooting for Fall 2007 but couldn’t make any promises. The big thing is the food inspections–it’s taken three months now,” said Bloomfield.
When Bloomfield met with Sodexho to talk about the progress, Bloomfield reported that he “got the wrong impression” from Sodexho administrators and believed that they possibly did not want to follow through with it.
“Since the inspection is taking so long, we’re starting to slack off on support,” Bloomfield said.
But with the cooperation and assistance of MSA and other Mason organizations, Bloomfield said that they are hopeful for their concerns to be met.
According to a report set up by Bloomfield to be presented Monday, the Bistro in the JC is only beginning to be evaluated for a daily Halal food offering. The initial trail will not occur until the Fall 2007. The presentation, which will be open to the public, is arranged to take place in the Science and Technology Building Room 7 at 4:30 p.m. and will be informing attendees on the current stage of the project and future goals to accomplish.
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