Two Mich. McDonald's to Stop Selling Halal Food

McDonald's will no longer carry halal chicken at two restaurants in east Dearborn, Mich., two months after settling a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed that the fast food chain mislabeled non-halal items, USA Today reports.

Halal is the Muslim version of kosher where meat must be prepared according to certain guidelines prescribed by Muslim law. For example, a prayer must be recited while an animal is being slaughtered.

In April, McDonald's reached a $700,000 settlement with Ahmed Ahmed — the individual who filed the halal lawsuit saying that the fast-food chain labeled non-halal items as halal. The settlement money was allocated to two Muslim organizations and covered Ahmed's attorney fees.

McDonald's made the decision to discontinue the halal items even though they claimed no wrong doing in the settlement nor were they required to do so.

"Those items have been discontinued as a result of our continued efforts to focus on our national core menu," a McDonald's spokesman said Friday.

Even those who disagreed with the settlement said that McDonald's made the right decision.

"If you can't get it right 100 percent of the time, then you're doing a disservice to the community," said Majed Moughni, who spoke out against McDonald's while the case was being settled, resulting in the judge who handled the case to temporarily shut down his Facebook page.

McDonald's began selling the halal chicken products in Dearborn in 2000, which has a large Muslim community. They still sell halal food in countries with large Muslim populations such as Saudi Arabia.