Are British Prisoners Being Fed Halal Meat Without Knowing It?

My FOI Request to the MoJ — October 2025

In September 2025, I submitted FOI request 250929032 to the Ministry of Justice, asking three questions: are some prisons only serving halal meat; if so, which ones; and is the meat certified or uncertified halal?

The MoJ's response of 27 October 2025 confirmed on the record that all halal meat and poultry served in prisons “must be sourced through nationally approved contracts and must carry appropriate certification to ensure compliance with religious standards.” The MoJ also stated flatly that no prison serves halal meat exclusively, and that wherever halal is offered, a non-halal alternative must be available.

On the surface, this sounds reassuring. But the parliamentary record tells a more complicated story.

The Parliamentary Record: 2006 to 2014

This is not the first time Parliament has been asked about halal meat in prisons. There is a trail of written answers going back twenty years.

On 10 May 2006, MP David T.C. Davies asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what checks were in place to ensure that when halal meat is offered, a non-halal alternative is also available. The answer confirmed that guidance had been issued to all prisons requiring a non-halal alternative to be provided alongside any halal option, and that the halal choice must be clearly identified on the published menu.

Then, on 1 September 2009, a written question (reference 287723) asked the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance the Prison Service provided on the procurement of halal meat, and whether it differentiated between stunned and pre-stunned meat. The answer contained a line that has never been publicly scrutinised:

“Since 1 April 2009, all Halal raw poultry products have been accredited and supplied to this new [NOMS Halal] standard.”

Not some poultry. Not the poultry on the halal menu. All halal raw poultry products supplied through the national contract. In plain English: every piece of chicken entering prison kitchens across England and Wales has been sourced from halal-certified supply chains for over fifteen years.

Five years later, on 19 March 2014, MP Mark Pritchard asked the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost was of preparing halal versus non-halal food in the Prison Service. The government's answer revealed that NOMS does not require prisons to categorise meal costs by religious, cultural or medical need — all meal costs are simply included in a single total food account figure. In other words, there is no separate accounting, no separate tracking, and no separate reporting of how much halal food is being produced or consumed across the estate.

The Supplier at the Centre of It

The national prison food contract is held by Bidfood UK, confirmed by a parliamentary answer in 2019. Bidfood supplies its meat under its Farmstead brand. Their published policy goes further than most: they require the entire supplying site to be halal-accredited — not merely individual products. This means that even meat not labelled halal on a prison menu is processed in a facility operating under full halal certification.

bidfood.co.uk — Farmstead accreditations and policies.

The Unanswered Question

My FOI response confirms a non-halal alternative must always be available. But the MoJ has never confirmed whether that alternative actually comes from non-halal-certified stock. Given Bidfood's site-level accreditation policy, it almost certainly does not. The “non-halal” option and the halal option in most prisons almost certainly come from the same certified supply chain.

There is no labelling requirement. Prisoners are not told. The 2014 Hansard answer confirmed the government does not even track the costs separately. And the 2009 answer confirmed that all poultry entering the national prison contract has been halal-certified since April of that year.

Chicken is by far the most commonly served meat in British prisons. Since at least April 2009, it has all been halal-certified. My FOI response, rather than putting the matter to rest, simply confirmed the certification — while leaving the central question entirely unanswered: does the “non-halal” alternative on a prison menu actually come from a different supply chain at all?