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Lawsuit: Farm Claiming To Sell Meats As Halal Not Following Religious Rules

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A farm in Dixon is facing a lawsuit amid claims of false advertising.

"They don't even know that they're being misled, that the product that they're buying is in fact no better than any other meat that they can buy for much lower price," said Shahid Manzoor, with Manzoor Law Firm.

The company claims to prepare meat following Islamic religious guidelines, but a local couple says the farm is misleading people about how they prepare their meats, breaking state law and religious practices.

"Over here, people go even far distances just to get it because the demand is very high for it," said Sam Safi.

Safi distributes rice across the country to dozens of restaurants and meat shops. He says in the Muslim community, the way meat is slaughtered is extremely important and dictated by religious law.

"The main thing is, you know, it's slaughtered very humanely and also the name of God is said before slaughtering it," Safi said.

The practice is called Halal and, according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Halal food accounts for 16 percent of the global food and beverage market.

Superior Farms in Dixon sells halal meat to distributors in and outside of California.

But one distributor claims the farm is not adhering to halal practices when preparing its lamb meat.

"If you're gonna market this food saying that it meets certain requirements, but in turn, it doesn't, it's false advertisement," Manzoor said.

Manzoor filed a complaint against Superior Farms claiming negligent misrepresentation, fraud and unfair competition.

"The people who buy these foods are paying a higher price than the regular meat that you can buy from any other supermarket," Manzoor said.

Manzoor says his client tried to explain that to the farm, but they didn't listen. Now, Manzoor says Superior Farms has to make a change.

"We're asking them to correct their measures," Manzoor said. "That if they're gonna sell this product, according to this type of labeling, that they truly adhere to these type of requirements."

Manzoor says after initial contact with Superior Farms, they denied the allegations.

The company spokesperson did not return CBS13's calls.

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