Despite the slight drop in exports during the 11-month period, Malaysia remained the 18th largest import source for the United States, according to latest statistics released by the United States administration.

The Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Commissioner in New York, Mohd Mustafa Abd Aziz, told Bernama that US-Malaysia two-way trade in 2011 was expected to stabilise with no drastic change.

The New York MATRADE office, which has been organising the Malaysia Kitchen Programme, in an effort to popularise Malaysian food and promote exports of food products and ingredients, is keen to increase its food supplies to US importers.

“The quality of Malaysian food products is considered to be good and reliable. Our food products are also competitive in prices. This is a strong impetus for us to increase our exports to the US,” he said.

Halal food is another area that is inherent with good business.

An Arkansas-based company, Simmons, has been exporting frozen chicken to Malaysia and other Asean countries.

Simmons has obtained a halal certificate from Malaysia, which is widely recognised and makes it easier for US food companies to penetrate into the Gulf and other Middle Eastern countries.

Mustafa said Simmons could coordinate with the Illinois-based Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America which works closely with Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development, a halal certifying authority.

“By locating to Malaysia, Simmons could even set up a plant there and export processed food products out of Malaysia,” Mustafa added.

– BERNAMA

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Some like their meat rare, while others insist on organic free-range fare. But a different category of meat is gracing restaurant menus and filling grocery store shelves in Nova Scotia.

As the Muslim community across the province grows, the number of businesses from butchers to restaurants selling halal meat has grown in lockstep.

It’s a budding trend turning into big bucks for businesses offering beef, goat, lamb and chicken slaughtered according to Islamic religion.

Taiba Halal Grocery, a small shop “run by Muslims for Muslims,” opened in Halifax three years ago selling meat allowed under Muslim law and other specialty foods.

“We became frustrated with the quality of halal meat available here,” co-owner Khalil Alshanti said Thursday. “We opened up the grocery store as a service to the Muslim community and over time we’ve also served some non-Muslims, too.”

Alshanti and his business partner, Ahmad Alhamoui, buy the meat for their grocery store at farms in Upper Rawdon and Bridgewater.

“We go down there and slaughter the animals,” he said. “The main thing is you don’t want the animal to experience any shock or trauma before it’s killed. The animal shouldn’t see blade before it’s slaughtered with the single swipe of a blade.”

With Nova Scotia’s growing Muslim community, now estimated to be close to 20,000, as well as an influx of university students hailing from the Middle East, Alshanti said competition has grown over time.

In the capital region, Bailey’s Meat Market in Bedford, House of Halal Groceries in Halifax and Mid-East Food Centre & Cafe in the north-end Halifax offer halal meet.

In Sydney, Lebanese Flower opened last September.

“My family only eats halal meat and we knew a lot of Muslims in Cape Breton would like a restaurant that served halal meat,” said Ray Kassem, whose family owns and operates the restaurant. “We’ve also had a lot of support from the local non-Muslim community who really love the food, too.”

Halal has many meanings in Arabic but generally means “what is permissible” in the Islamic religion. Things that are not halal include pork and gambling, for instance.

Mike Oulton had never heard of halal meat when he started farming in Martock many years ago. But now it’s an integral part of his farming operation and the Mike Oulton Meat Shop.

Long-time employee Terry Patterson said serving the ethnic community is a very strong part of the business and continues to grow each year.

“There is a Muslim who comes by every Tuesday and blesses the animals and slaughters them,” he said. “We have a number of Muslims that come here to pick up the meat and we also do deliveries to homes, restaurants and stores.”

(bbundale@herald.ca)

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IGM and NPD Services have been working for over two years on the European Halal Food Park, the park is in its final stages of construction and ready to open its EU Licensed Factory for SME’s to come on board, the venture can expect to have a turnover of 15 million plus in the first year and has a number of committed partners and can be expected to be in full operation within the next six months.

The site in Banham was strategically sort out due to its ideal location situated less than 90 minutes from central London and has access to two of the largest European Muslim communities in Europe. The French market which has population of over 7million, and the UK market of approx. 4 million Muslims.

With the present climate of recession and unsuraties, this pilot project will allow the European Halal Food Park to open further halal food hubs in the other regions of the UK and the Norfolk plant will act as the central distribution hub. The jobs created will benefit all sections of the community; the European Halal Food Park will be strategically placed for other halal food companies to come on board.

Mr Ghulam Ghafoor Managing Director of Pak Supermarkets, Pak supermarkets Britain’s first main stream chain of halal supermarkets here in UK said: “we have been waiting for such a project, where we can purchase all our UK assured halal products manufactured in the UK, I for one am in favour of halal product which are with complete Shariah compliance ”

The first stage of the project has already been completed and is already operational, boasting a fully approved Halal Abattoir & Cutting Plant operated by Simply Halal which is 100% dedicated to supplying Non-Stun Halal Beef, Lamb & Mutton. NPD Services are working together with EEDA (East Anglia Development Agency) which will include, a central retail packing unit and a further processing unit focussed on manufacturing added value halal food products. The site already has a 300 pallet cold store and blast freezers which makes it ideal for Frozen food operations.

Mohammed Saleem, Policy Director for ANSA Said:  ‘He supports any scheme that benefits the Muslim community and the halal slaughter houses here in the UK by providing the Muslim community with assured 100% Non-Stun halal meat’.

For more information on the European Halal Food Park, please contact William Innes on 07786 993766 or email info@halalfoodpark.co.uk.

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Malaysian religious authorities delisted New Zealand beef processing plants in 2005 after deciding that their halal slaughtering practices didn’t comply with their requirements.

But the Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) says the trade is gaining momentum again with 14 plants now approved to process beef as well as sheepmeat for Malaysia, under a new halal certification agreement.

MAF chief market access officer Tony Zohrab says it’s taken years of negotiation between New Zealand and Malaysian officials and industry representatives to get new halal export standards in place.

He says an essential part of it is government involvement in overseeing the standards.

Mr Zohrab says the key components in that export standard were official approval of halal certification bodies in New Zealand, and competency standards for personnel conducting halal slaughter of animals and for people performing certification and auditing for halal.

Also needed were quality systems specific for halal within each establishment that wanted to produce halal meat for any export market and the establishment of a Halal Advisory Group to advise MAF.

Meat Industry Association chief executive Tim Ritchie says having 14 plants cleared to process meat for Malaysia again represents good progress in getting the trade re-established.

Though it is still fewer than the 41 plants that listed in 2005, good process has been made, he says, and another tranche of plants should be audited this year.

Mr Ritchie says in 2004 the beef trade was up to 8000 tonnes, but in the last 12 months that was only 1600 metric tonnes.

Radio New Zealand

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Last month a plan for an outright ban on ritual slaughter in the Netherlands failed to pass the Dutch Senate. The move prompted the deputy minister for agriculture to present a compromise asking slaughterhouses and the Islamic and Jewish communities to agree on the length of time an animal is conscious before dying, opening the door for more discussions about stunning the animal before slaughter – something long opposed by many in the Jewish and Islamic communities.

Meatingplace contacted Joe M. Regenstein, professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, to discuss recent issues and the future of ritual slaughter in the United States.

The Dutch vote is an important one on the issue of ritual slaughter, and it’s been a hot-button topic across Europe for much of 2011. In June the parliament passed the ban, but its implementation is riding on passage in the Senate. To what degree is the animal rights lobby influencing passage of this proposed ban — and how does it bode for similar legislation in North America?

Holland is the first country in Europe to elect members of an animal activist group to seats in their parliament. The Party for the Animals has two seats in the lower house as I understand it. This then gives them the right to propose legislation. As it was explained to me, they submitted a large number of bills and the only one that had any traction was the bill to ban religious slaughter. I do see this approach eventually coming to the United States, but I do not believe that a bill solely targeting religious slaughter would at this time get the same type of traction.

The vote in the Dutch lower house reflected both a very inaccurate view of religious slaughter and a high degree of Islamophobia and some anti-Semitism. It is sad that a country like Holland with such a long history of religious freedom should be the first country since the Nazi era to actually vote a ban on religious slaughter. All of the other European bans (except for Switzerland, which was done in a bout of anti-Semitism in the 1890s) were done before World War II in countries with Nazi sympathies.

What factors in the United States have made it increasingly attractive for meat processors to add kosher and halal products?

The first is the market itself. The kosher-observant population in the United States is increasing because of the family demographics of the Orthodox Jewish community. The Muslim community is both growing and becoming more organized so that they can be reached with products targeting them. In addition, the additional inspections and the respectful slaughter methods (i.e., a religious person slaughtering the animal with concern for the animal’s slaughter) are attractive to many other consumers.

What is the main concern among animal rights groups over kosher and halal slaughter. Is it founded?

The research on religious slaughter has been poorly done. There is a real need for proper research. For example the so-called definitive work recently reported from New Zealand used a short knife that was machine sharpened. The whole key to religious slaughter is the use of a razor sharp knife without nicks. This takes a highly trained slaughterman using the right knife. So the use of the proper knife in a laboratory setting for religious slaughter has not been studied.

In other cases, field data is collected without a description of the slaughter systems used, which is a major violation of the ethics of science in which others should be able to duplicate the work. So on the surface it appears that there is data to suggest that religious slaughter does not work as well – but it is actually done on oranges and discussed as apples.

On the other hand, Dr. Grandin and I do continue to admonish the religious communities for some of their slaughter practices that are not using the best available technology consistent with religious requirements. A key contribution of Dr. Grandin has been her strong attitude of measuring, improving, and managing all forms of slaughter and working with the industry to do things better rather than trying to denigrate all or part of the slaughter industry.

If one reads about Dr. Grandin’s experience with kosher slaughter, we may find when the research is done right that religious slaughter may in fact have the highest level of animal welfare.

Is it possible for a processor to realistically accommodate concerns about animal welfare and the certifying authorities that recognize that a product was processed in accordance with religious laws?

We have some very fine operators both in the secular and religious communities that are using Dr. Grandin’s information to slaughter animals going through their facilities with a high level of animal welfare. Other facilities are still in need of improvement. So, yes, I do believe that the issue is one of doing things properly and even then always seeking to improve. Those doing anything less must do better.

Source: The Meatingplace

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The agreement was signed by AITI with a local IT company, John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd for the supply, development, delivery, installation, commissioning and to provide training and maintenance for Brunei-made RFID Halal Food Traceability System where the use of the technology will be piloted to the Religious Affairs ministry, an AITI press release stated yesterday.

Under this pilot project, the RFID traceability system will be developed by John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd to authenticate and track the Halal status for food products where the initial focus will be on detection of chicken and raw meat produced by the local abattoir.

The authentic Halal logo issued by the relevant authority will be validated using RFID tag embedded into the meat packages, the statement added.

A RFID reader will be placed at retail stores for consumers to authenticate the product’s status and obtain range of information including the slaughtering processes, sources of ingredients, manufacturing and expiry dates of the product. This pilot system will be carried out for six months involving users from the Halal Food Control Division of Ministry of Religious Affairs, one selected local abattoir and a retail store.

Chief Executive of AITI, Hj Yahkup Hj Menudin, in the statement was quoted as saying: “This technology is picking up in the food and packaging industry all around the world as it is being utilised to track inventory and food safety. In Brunei, food industry involving Halal status is one of the key areas that has the potential to leverage on RFID technology. This is simply because our Muslim consumers are very much concern about the authenticity of Halal food products. Hence, AITI and Ministry of Religious Affairs are very keen to collaborate in putting up RFID to better track the food status in our food market.”

The signing event took place at Seri Kerna Hall, AITI office in Anggerek Desa.

Present to witness the signing were Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Hj Awang Mohd Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications who is also Chairman of AITI, and Hj Abdul Aziz Orang Kaya Maharaja Lela Hj Yussof, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Hj Yahkup signed on behalf of AITI, while John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd was represented by its General Manager, John Lim Wan Kee.

Over the past few years, AITI has been actively promoting the usage of RFID technology in Brunei through several initiatives including the set up of its own RFID Showcase Gallery and training of local resources and developers.

The statement added that RFID is one of the niche areas that has the potential for development of various applications in Brunei by the local ICT players. AITI hopes to rollout more pilot programs of this kind with other relevant agencies in an effort to expand the adoption of RFID and promote the Brunei-made ICT products for growth and sustainability of the local ICT industry. Fitri Shahminan

The Brunei Times

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foodnavigator-asia.com

http://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Business/China-province-first-to-get-a-halal-status-tracking-system?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright

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Some parliamentarians have eaten meat at Westminster having been assured it was halal

(Mail Online) – The Palace of Westminster has rejected demands to serve halal meat in its restaurants.

Muslim MPs and peers have been told they cannot have meat slaughtered in line with Islamic tradition because the method – slitting an animal’s throat without first stunning it – is offensive to many of their non-Muslim colleagues.

The stance has infuriated some parliamentarians who have eaten meat in the Palace’s 23 restaurants and cafes, having been assured that it was halal.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said: ‘I did feel misled. I think a halal option should be made available.’

In 2010, The Mail on Sunday revealed schools, hospitals and restaurants were serving halal meat to unwitting customers.

Alison Ruoff, a member of the Church of England, said: ‘It’s a bit hypocritical that the Houses of Parliament, which have allowed other people to provide halal food, have ruled it out on their own premises.’

Spokesmen for the House of Lords and the House of Commons confirmed that halal meat was not served in their restaurants.

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The endeavour is aligned with the growing Brazilian poultry exportation to the region, a statement from the company said.

The total Brazilian poultry production reached 13 million tons in 2011, almost 6.9 percent increase from 2010. At the same time, the exportation is expected to total 3.937 million tons, over 30 percent of the total production, according to Brazilian Poultry Union (UBABEF).

“The Middle East region is a focal exportation and trading hub for Brazil. We are confident in the prospects for the upcoming year and will continue to support our business partners by supplying top quality halal and non-halal chicken products at competitive prices,” a spokesperson for BrazArtis Assessoria em Comercio Exterior said.

Brazil’s exports span across the whole GCC region including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria and Oman.

As part of strong tie between Brazil and the Middle East, select exports are certified by the Central Islamic Brazilian Halal Food (Cibal Halal), the Brazilian Islamic Centre for Halal Food Stuff Association. – TradeArabia News Service

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