A South Australian dairy manufacturer says it has bowed to pressure to drop its Halal certification following anti-Islamic bullying on social media.
Fleurieu Milk and Yoghurt company made products which were naturally Halal, but paid a fee for Halal certification in order to secure a deal to supply Dubai-based airline, Emirates.
The company decided to drop the certification after receiving abuse from anti-Halal groups on social media.
Fleurieu marketing manager Nick Hutchinson told SBS the company had decided the negatives of the backlash outweighed the lucrative Emirates contract.
"We've now received a lot of backlash about making this call, for giving into minority groups and so forth, and we understand that," he said.
"It's a hard [decision], but, unlike other companies, we knew that we could continue to supply Islamic countries, if we wanted to, without certification."
Nick Hutchinson speaks to SBS reporter Brianna Roberts:
Mr Hutchinson said the abuse Fleurieu had received had been difficult to manage.
“I was trying to delete things off our social media but they were coming in quicker than I could delete them,” he said.
"To target these people that are creating jobs for south Australians…they’re bringing money from foreign countries back into south Australia…attacking them personally - it's not fair."
He added that the loss of the $50,000 Emirates deal wouldn't result in staff redundancies.
South Australia’s trade minister, Martin Hamilton-Smith, has now urged other companies not to bow to the pressure of anti-Islamic bullying.
"One of our key friends and trading partners, Indonesia, is the largest Islamic country in the world,” he said. “We should embrace these opportunities rather than exclude them."
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