About GB 2730
Stephens Fresh Foods Limited is based in Chatham (ME5), England. The Food Standards Agency approves it for processing meat products, cutting meat, re-wrapping and repacking and cold storage.
Is meat from GB 2730 halal?
The code shows which plant cut, prepared or packed the meat, not whether it is halal. Look for a halal logo from a named certifier, such as HMC or HFA, or ask the brand which certifier approves the product. More in halal meat codes.
What this approval means for halal
A processing plant handles processed products of animal origin, which includes cooked, cured and ready-to-eat meat products. Recipes can include gelatine, alcohol-based flavourings or other additives that the meat's own certificate does not cover.
A cutting plant cuts carcasses into joints and portions. It does not slaughter animals, so the meat arrives from a slaughterhouse and the halal question moves upstream: where the meat came from, and whether halal meat is kept apart from non-halal meat while it is cut.
A re-wrapping approval means the plant unwraps and packs meat again without preparing it. A pack can carry this plant's code while the meat was slaughtered and cut elsewhere, so the supplier before the repack matters.
What to ask before you rely on it
- Is the finished product certified, not just the raw meat?
- Do the recipes contain gelatine, alcohol or other doubtful ingredients?
- Which slaughterhouses supply this plant, and are they halal certified?
- Is halal meat cut on separate lines or at separate times from non-halal meat?
- Who supplied the meat before it was repacked?
- Does the halal certificate cover the repacking step?
Ask the brand on the pack, or the halal certifier named on it. Plants rarely publish this, so a written answer from the brand is the best evidence.
Meat plants in the area
The ME postcode area has 2 approved meat plants in the Food Standards Agency list, 1 of them slaughterhouses and 1 cutting plants. England has 731 in total.