Military Commissaries failing to provide kosher and halal foods “undermines the military’s diversity”

Now it’s food. From the Air Force Times:

Military grocery stores need to provide more options to meet the needs of service members and families with religious dietary requirements, a pair of congressional lawmakers told the Defense Commissary Agency director in a letter Wednesday.

While “tens of thousands of [commissary] beneficiaries” practice a religion with unique dietary rules, the stores offer limited certified kosher and halal options and fail to promote them well, Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., wrote to commissary director John Hall.

They warned that failing to sell a wider range of kosher foods, which adhere to strict Jewish dietary laws, and halal options, which are permissible under Islamic law, undermines the military’s diversity and discourages members of those religions from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

“It is critical the Department of Defense ensures that active duty personnel of all religions, including Islam and Judaism, are able to access foods that respect their faith traditions,” wrote Pressley and Houlahan, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee’s quality-of-life panel.

“No active duty personnel should have to sacrifice their faith to serve in our military.”

The commissary agency operates 235 grocery stores on bases around the world, offering groceries at a discount to the military community. But troops, constituents and others have told Pressley’s office of the difficulties they face due to the stores’ dearth of kosher and halal options — which can force observant Jews and Muslims to shell out more money to ship groceries from specialty stores or restrict their eating altogether. . . . .

. . . . The military has taken steps to accommodate the religious dietary needs of service members in settings where there may be no other options, such as on ships and other deployments. For example, the Defense Logistics Agency provides kosher and halal Meals, Ready to Eat to accommodate those who follow strict religious diets. . . .(read more)