The Tesco ready meal

A primary school teacher whose religious observance forbids her eating non-halal meat says she felt distraught after tucking into what she believed was a fish pie ready meal – only to discover that it contained unblessed meat.

Muslim Runa Begum bought the meal, which she says was labelled as a fish pie from Tesco Express in Romford Road, only to discover that it was a non-halal meat lasagne.

But after investigating her complaint Tesco says their fish pie and lasagne products are made in different factories and that they are confident the products could not have been swapped around before reaching the store.

Ms Begum, of Manor Park, said: “I brought it to work for my lunch break. “When I opened the meal it looked white like a fish pie with the cheese and lasagne plates on top. It wasn’t until I put a bite in my mouth that I thought it tasted like meat and realised it was a meat lasagne.

“As a Muslim I only eat halal meat, which is my personal choice, and I felt sick to the stomach that I had eaten other meat without my knowledge.

“I felt distraught and angry that they were not be more vigilant with the packaging with what is going on in the media about the horse meat scandal.”

A Tesco spokesperson said they were concerned to learn of this incident and have looked into it.

She said: “The products are made in two different factories, so we are confident this could not have occurred before the products reached the store. We have checked the items on our shelves, which are all labelled correctly. We’ll continue to investigate and will keep our customer updated.”