Two men from Cardiff have been sentenced for fraudulently distributing chicken as halal meat to restaurants and takeaways across south Wales.

Helim Miah, 46, owner of Universal Food Wholesale Limited, was found guilty of fraudulent trading and trading while bankrupt. He received a prison sentence of four years and eight months. His associate, Noaf Rahman, also 46, admitted to fraudulent trading offences and was given a 24-month suspended sentence.

The offences were uncovered after a regulatory investigation that seized more than 2,800kg of frozen meat from the company’s warehouse.

Cardiff and the Vale Shared Regulatory Services carried out the investigation in January 2019.

Inspectors discovered:

• Meat with altered sell-by dates
• Products stored and transported in unhygienic conditions
• Non-halal and halal meat processed together, making none of it truly halal
• A complex setup of businesses designed to hide the true source of the products

Over a five-year period, takeaways and restaurants unknowingly purchased and served non-halal chicken, believing they were buying genuine halal products.

Judge Vanessa Francis described the offences as “flagrant breaches over a significant period of time” and said the harm caused was “extensive.”

She added that the defendants’ actions created “a disaster waiting to happen,” with unsafe and unverified meat being supplied across the region. The societal impact, she said, was “difficult to quantify.”

“This case is a stark reminder of how fragile trust can be when it comes to halal food. Halal is not simply a label — it is a matter of faith, ethics, and community trust. For families who rely on halal, finding out that they may have been misled in such a way is deeply distressing.

At VERIHALAL, our mission is to ensure this betrayal never happens again. We help restaurants showcase genuine halal certification or get their sourcing independently verified, free of charge. By creating a transparent and accountable system, we make it easier for customers to trust what’s on their plate and for honest restaurants to stand apart.

Trust, once broken, takes time to rebuild. But with proper verification and community awareness, we believe the UK halal food market can restore its integrity and protect consumers for the future.”

This article is based on reporting by BBC News. Read the full story here.