A South Australian dairy company in the eye of a social media storm says it has no regrets about dropping its Halal certification.
Fleurieu Milk and Yoghurt Company was first attacked for seeking certification to meet Muslim dietary requirements, and was then accused of caving into anti-Muslim sentiment.
It cost the firm a $50,000 supply deal with Emirates Airlines.
Director Barry Clarke said the halal certifier who visited his factory explained that the $1000 fee was to pay his expenses.
Facebook campaigners claims the fee could go to financing terrorism, but an Australian Crime Commission spokesman said it was unaware of any direct link between the legitimate certification industry and money laundering or terror financing.
Fleurieu was one of several businesses targeted by websites like “Halal Choices”, which encourages people to boycott businesses that have had their goods Halal-certified.
Earlier this week, 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.”
Fleurieu marketing manager 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.”