Pizza Express
We recently spoke to Pizza Express regarding how halal their food is and whether the chicken is truly halal or not. In an email dated 17/06/2019, they told us:
All of our chicken is halal slaughtered, however, please know that we do not follow any halal processes within the restaurant and therefore none of our final dishes are halal.
I have attached our allergen information sheet which tells you whether a meal or ingredient contains alcohol. The first half of the sheet lists the full dish and the second half lists the individual ingredients. Please know that this allergen information will change tomorrow as we have our summer menu being launched tomorrow.
Our meats are kept in separate containers but our chefs do not wash their hands between handling different types of meats.
We do not train our chefs to wash their hands between handling different types of meat, however, they are trained to wash their hands regularly to prevent the growth of bacteria and maintain a high standard of food safety.
I must also stress that our menu states as our dishes are handmade in our busy kitchens, unfortunately we cannot guarantee that they are 100% free of allergens or contaminants. This incorporates all types of contamination.
I certainly hope this answers your questions, however, if you require further information, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Mia Parsons, Quality and Safety Incident Manager
On receiving this email, we asked about the position of their vegetarian products and whether they may be cross contaminated too. We also asked for the latest allergen info sheet. Pizza Express replied:
All of our pizzas are made fresh to order and great care is taken when preparing each dish to ensure it is to the standard we and our customers would expect and contains the correct ingredients.
All ingredients are stored in their own lidded containers and there is no real opportunity for cross contamination. Ingredients that are out for service are kept in front of our chefs or use. The ingredient bowls are arranged in such a way as to reduce the risk of contamination of other ingredients but in particular by meat or highly allergenic ingredients.
As much as we can prepare your dish using separate dishes and utensils we do only have one oven in each restaurant. Our pizzas and pastas are placed in separate pans/ dishes before being cooked in the oven, so we can incorporate separation by this means.
We train our teams to understand individual needs and are confident that if you wanted to visit any one of our restaurants and inform the restaurant manager of your requirements they can prepare your dish to prevent contamination. Please can you ensure you inform the manager during each of your visits.
Mia Parsons, Quality and Safety Incident Manager
thehalallife.co.uk would advise to avoid eating any of the chicken dishes, as although they are halal, cross contamination may be prevalent. Unless, as confirmed above, the general making of food is made taking care of cross contamination. And we always recommend to ask the manager/head chef of your local Pizza Express.