A meat wholesaler has hit back to quash rumours concerning its 2014 qurbanis.

Lancashire Direct Halal Meats (LDHM), said all of its meat was slaughtered during the morning of Eid-ul-Adha despite texts claiming otherwise.

The texts mentioned the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) but the organisation said it had no involvement with them.

As is Islamic tradition during the festival of Eid, lambs are slaughtered during the morning of the festival.

They were accused of slaughtering their animals early because their prices were lower than competitors.

The cost of the lambs can rise steeply that morning, but LDHM, which conducted 400 qurbanis, said it choose to keep its prices at a more reasonable level for its customers.

Owner Naveed Alam said he had come to Asian Image to quash the rumours.

He said: “We carried out qurbanis on the morning of Eid as we always do. These were sold for £90.

“How is it that lamb prices are £80 the day before Eid and then a day after Eid but on Eid morning they shoot up to over £120. We were just making sure we were keeping our Muslim community happy with low prices.

“But then these WhatApp messages started flying about stating otherwise. This was wholly untrue and sent out to cause doubts in people’s minds.

“We have proof from the abattoir which states the qurbanis were done according to Islamic rules”.

The anonymous texts circulating amongst members of the public claimed, ‘All brothers who purchased Cheap Quarbinis from Lancashire Direct Halla Meats Ltd are hereby informed that all Qurbani lamb/sheep at LDHM was slaughtered the night before Eid. For More info I suggest you contact anyone from HMC (Blackburn).

Naveed said: “This was a completely baseless accusation. When I got in touch with HMC they said they never sent it.”

Asian Image contacted the HMC who said none of their staff had sent out the messages.

It added that LDHM was already part certified for the wholesale side of its business.

The spokesman said: “They were already paying for the service of HMC, then why would HMC want to discredit them?”