Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has been criticised after pork products were displayed in the halal section of the store.

None of the items in the section at that time are permitted within Islam, despite signs saying otherwise.

A shopper, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she spotted the problem when she visited Sainsbury’s Pepper Hill store in Wingfield Bank, Northfleet, Gravesend, last Friday morning.

As a Muslim, she had gone straight to the section with large signs saying “halal” above the fridges.

The 44-year-old said: “I found some steaks at a low price but then for some reason, I felt like something was wrong.

“I looked at the brand name and I tried to look for the halal sign on it but there wasn’t one.”

She said at that point she had not looked at the rest of the section as she had gone in to buy steaks specifically.

She continued: “I asked a member of staff if it was halal and she said ‘no, we moved the halal stock to the right of the tills.’”

The left side of the section was filled with pork products, including bacon and gammon.

Halal food and drink are items which adhere to Islam as stated within the holy book, the Quran.

Permitted foods include meat slaughtered in a certain way, while pork and alcohol are banned from consumption.

The employee told the woman that section had been moved to accommodate Christmas stock due in.

The woman said: “I said okay, I can understand that but why was the halal sign still there as this is so important for Muslims.

“I was actually really shocked, it was so disrespectful.”

The customer then spoke to a manager who said the signs would be moved but says she was upset as she did not receive an apology for the mistake.

She said: “Halal food is a fundamental part of the Islamic way of life and this was ignored so badly.

“I didn’t see any respect from her. I was really shocked – they should treat it seriously.”

Bilal Farooq, who is chairman of Gravesend and Dartford Muslim Association, called the situation “offensive and a big concern”.

He said: “It’s misleading information – some people see a big sign saying halal and don’t bother looking closely at the packaging because they take the sign to be correct.”

Bilal, who is also the chairman of the Gravesend Central Mosque committee, said he understood mistakes happen but the supermarket should take more care to ensure it does not happen again.

He said: “For the future, it should be carefully stocked if it says that the section is halal.

“We’re only allowed to eat and drink what is halal, it is a mandatory requirement and very important for us.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Our colleagues apologised to this customer for any upset the incorrect signage may have caused.

“They also reassured her the signs were about to be moved as part of an update which was being made to the layout of this aisle that morning.”

Bilal said: “It doesn’t matter if they want to merchandise something else there.

“They can take the halal signs down and then put other stock there but if the halal signs are there, then there should not be any products there which are not halal.

“Mistakes can happen, that’s fine, but this is not a light matter and it needs to not happen again.”