VOLYS STAR started producing Premium Halal Poultry Products for the French market some 30 years ago.

The company’s Halal experience was rewarded with leadership positions in other Halal markets in, amongst others, Asia and the Middle East.

Teaming up with AYTAC FOODS, VOLYS STAR products, which are available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Dubai, are now also available at Tesco’s in the UK. They will be starting with their Sliced Smoked Turkey Rashers. A must for anyone who wants to have a Halal BLT!

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Products ranging from Aberdeen-Angus steaks to roast-beef flavoured potato crisps will soon be available in UAE restaurants and on supermarket shelves.

UK Trade and Investment, working closely with the Ministry of Environment and Water in the UAE and the Department of Food and Rural Affairs in the UK, were instrumental in getting the ban lifted.

Director of UK Trade and Investment in Dubai, Ian Gibbons, said: “The UAE is an important market for the UK and there is already a very healthy demand for British food products. I have recently arrived in the UAE and am impressed by the incredible range of international products available, which is testament to the nature of the country as a true international hub. UK products are more widely available than in many other countries. The lifting of the British beef ban is significant as it means greater opportunity for UK suppliers.”

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Homegrown brands like CavinKare, Daawat, Bikano, Goldwinner oil, Vadilal ice cream,Amrutanjan Health Care and Gujarat Ambuja Exports are embracing halal-certification to get a better foothold in markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.

CavinKare has got a halal certification from Halal India, an apex body for halal certification , for three of its products – Fairever, Nyle herbal shampoo and Ruchi pickle – to expand its footprint in Singapore, Malaysia and GCC. “The certification is a reason-to-belief for customers on quality parameters. The certification will also give an edge over our competitors,” said R S Vijay Kumar, GM of international business at Cavin-Kare , a Chennai-based personal care company.

Nyle shampoo, for instance, cornered a 26.7% share in the Singapore halal-compliant market and 22% in Malaysia for the same segment last fiscal, he added. The Rs 1,100-crore company expects its international business to touch the Rs 100-crore mark in the current fiscal from Rs 70 crore earlier.

Bikano, the sweet and the namkeen brand from Bikanervala Foods, has seen a 30% jump in soan papdi and cookies sales in Malaysian market in the last one year, partly due to the halalcertification that gave a higher visibility on retail shelves there. “Halal signifies highest standards of quality and hygiene in ingredients, processes and products,” said Sachin Anand, head (international business), Bikanervala Foods.

Amrutanjan has obtained a halal certificate for all its pain balm products exported to Singapore , Malaysia, West Indies and a few African markets. “Islam in many ways is a way of life. To that extent, Islamic branding is all about using brands as good deeds. What starts with halal foods, can move on to halal practice in every industry, be it the pharmaceutical or the cosmetic industry . Islamic branding can embrace broader pastures that cover business practices too,” said Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults.

“With many brands embracing halal, Indian brands may look at an export market opportunity of about $200 billion in the next ten years,” said Mohamed Jinna, CEO of Halal India. The halal stamp can be extended to those brands tuned into the principles of Shariah in faith, good practice and spirit . Globally, the halal market is worth a staggering $2.1 trillion a year, says a report by brand consultancy firm Ogilvy Noor.

The market opportunity for halal products is still untapped in India, but brand consultants are not dismissing its potential in a country with 160 million Muslims. Paul Temporal, founder and MD of Temporal Brand Consulting, feels that there is a lot more room for brand managers to adapt these values for different markets and cultures, whether Islamic or not.

“If you look at Islamic values , most of them are emotional and this makes for good branding and marketing. A more careful look reveals that a lot of these values do not just suit Islamic audiences, but are of a universally appealing nature . The issue or challenge is to find where these people are and to reach them with suitable products,” he added.

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The Expo is endorsed by Dubai Municipality, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM), Germany to run at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from November 27-29 2012

Dubai: The 10^th edition of annual organic and natural products expo, MENOPE 2012 (Middle East Natural and Organic Products Expo) is expected to attract more regional participation this year, apart from a host of global companies who have elicited enthusiasm to be part of the show.

In a statement, the organizers of MENOPE 2012, Global Links Dubai LLC, today said the Middle East’s one and only exhibition for natural, organic and halal products will run from 27-29 November this year at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre in the UAE.

“Even at this early stage of the preparations for MENOPE 2012, we have strong and enthusiastic response from both regional and global players endorsing the fact that the annual exhibition has a very strong reputation as a show which caters to the trade with a view to foster growth of this sector,” said Eng. Nadim Al Fuqaha, Managing Director, Global Links.

He said MENOPE 2012 is also looking at attracting a number of regional organic players from both the private and public sector in line with the growth the sector has witnessed over the last few years.

“There are more regional players in the organic market now as businesses realize the growth potential of the sector. We believe that the market has expanded in size as well as quality of offerings with local organic players sensing the need to cater to a sophisticated and aware consumer base with a large share of young people,” Eng. Nadim said.

The Middle East market has maintained the pace of growth of over 15 per cent CAGR in the organic products market though the base is still small and niche with potential to expand further.

“Our partners say that there is strong retail growth trend in the organic and natural products sector. Higher prices have always been a hurdle for increased uptake of products in this sector, but as the volume increases, the price line is also expected to come down. We believe that some amount of rationalization of  prices is already taking place in the market, encouraging more consumers to buy organic products as they  become more affordable,” said  Mr. Joby Mathew, Head, Exhibitions, Global Links.

MENOPE is Middle East’s only exhibition for natural and organic products and this year over 150 exhibitors from 25 countries will take part in the niche show. The three-day expo includes the third MEVEG Conference and a  conference on  Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines.

MENOPE 2012 is endorsed by the Dubai Municipality. It is supported by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), Germany, Ministry of Agriculture Lebanon, Department of Agriculture Philippines, Agrar Marketing Austria, and National Chamber of Sri Lanka etc.

Last year there was significant country pavilion participation from Austria, India, Korea, Philippines, USA, Romania, Srilanka, Lebanon, and Taiwan. The participating countries in MENOPE 2011 included the UAE, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Slovenia, Canada, among others.

MENOPE 2012 will showcase a variety of products spanning across Herbals and Spices, Food & Beverages, Cereal Products, Supplements, Health Care products, Natural Living, Natural and Organic Cosmetics, Healing Products, Natural Remedies, Traditional Medicines, Spas, Relaxation facilities, and Fabrics. More information on the event is available at www.naturalproductme.com. The organizers can also be reached at info@naturalproductme.com.

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The British “debate” about meat, animal cruelty and ritual slaughter has become a proxy for deep fears about Muslims in our midst.

I am sitting in one of London’s finest Indian restaurants, Benares, in the heart of Mayfair. I’ve just placed an order for the “Tandoori Ratan” mixed-grill appetiser – a trio of fennel lamb chop, chicken cutlet and king prawn.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m pretty excited. Most of the upmarket restaurants in London do not cater for the city’s burgeoning Muslim population. Benares is one of the few exceptions: all of the lamb and chicken dishes on its menu are halal.

The restaurant opened in 2003 and its owner, Atul Kochhar, is a Michelin-starred chef. “Right from day one, we’ve kept our lamb and chicken halal,” Kochhar says. “It was a very conscious decision because I grew up in India, a secular country, where I was taught to have respect for all religions.” Kochhar, who is a Hindu, says Muslims make up “easily between 10 and 20 per cent” of his regular diners. It isn’t just a taste for religious pluralism that has dictated the contents of his menu; serving halal meat makes commercial, as well as cultural, sense.

To other, perhaps less tolerant types, however, the rise and rise of halal meat in the west and here in the UK, in particular, is a source of tension, controversy, fear and loathing. British Muslims are living through a period of halal hysteria, a moral panic over our meat. First there came 9/11, 7/7 and the “Islamic” terror threat; then there was the row over the niqab (face veil) and hijab (headscarf); now, astonishingly, it’s the frenzy over halal meat.

Last month, MPs in the Commons rejected a ten-minute-rule bill that would have made it mandatory for retailers to label all of the halal and kosher meat on sale and make it clear on the packaging that the animals were “killed without stunning”. The bill’s proponent, the Tory backbencher Philip Davies, claimed that the meat was being “forced upon” shoppers “without their knowledge”. It was defeated by the narrowest of margins – 73 votes to 70.

As is so often the case, the right-wing press is behind much of the fear-mongering and misinformation. “Britain goes halal . . . but no one tells the public,” screamed the front-page headline in the Mail on Sunday on 19 September 2010. The paper claimed that supermarkets, restaurants, schools, hospitals, pubs and big sporting venues such as Wembley Stadium were “controversially serving up meat slaughtered in accordance with strict Islamic law to unwitting members of the public”.

The following week, readers were treated to two more stories suggesting a sinister plot to inflict halal meat on innocent, animal-loving, non-Muslim Britons. “How 70 per cent of New Zealand lamb imports to Britain are halal . . . but this is NOT put on the label”, said the Daily Mail on 25 September 2010. “Top supermarkets secretly sell halal: Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and M&S don’t tell us meat is ritually slaughtered,” proclaimed the Mail on Sunday the next day.

With the threat from terrorism receding, Britain’s Islam-baiters have jumped on the anti-halal bandwagon, and not just the neo-fascists of the British National Party and the English Defence League, which has a page on its website devoted to its (anti-) “halal campaign”, but mainstream commentators, too. The Spectator’s Rod Liddle – who once wrote a column entitled “Islamophobia? Count me in” – has demanded that halal meat be banned and called for a boycott of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and the rest until they agree to stop stocking halal products. “I will buy no meat from supermarkets,” he wrote, rather melodramatically, back in 2010.

In this year’s French presidential election, candidates seemed to spend more time discussing halal meat than rising unemployment or the ballooning budget deficit. Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, alleged that “all the abattoirs in the Paris region sell halal meat without exception”, while the outgoing president, Nicolas Sarkozy, claimed that the halal issue was a “central concern” for French voters. (For the record, halal constitutes 2 per cent of all the meat sold in Paris.)

Last year in the Netherlands, the lower house of parliament approved a bill, introduced by the Party for the Animals (PvdD) and backed by the Islamophobe Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party, to have all ritually slaughtered meat, including halal and kosher, banned. The Dutch government refused to sign off on the bill but agreed to appoint a commission to consider tighter procedures for slaughter.

Stun guns

So, what is it about halal that provokes such anger and hysteria? The word literally means “lawful” and refers to any object – not just food – or action or behaviour that is deemed permissible under Islamic law.

For meat to be considered halal, three conditions must be met:

1) The animal must be healthy and uninjured and, crucially, it must be killed with a cut.
2) All the blood must be drained from the animal’s body.
3) The slaughterer must recite the appropriate Islamic prayer at the time of slaughter.

Islam, like Judaism, prescribes a single-cut method of slaughter: the animal is killed with a quick cut to the throat using a sharp knife. This allows the blood to drain out and, it is believed, makes the meat cleaner.

Naturally, the image of blood flowing out from the slit throat of a dead cow or sheep doesn’t help. But Muslims, like Jews, insist that so-called ritual slaughter is humane and pain-free because the animal quickly loses consciousness. “There is no time to start feeling any pain,” in the words of Dr Majid Katme, a former spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain.

In contrast, modern western non-ritual methods of slaughter demand that the animal be rendered unconscious before it is killed – usually by means of stunning, with a bolt gun, or electrocution. The stunning of livestock before slaughter has been compulsory in the EU since 1979 but most member states, including the UK, grant exemptions to Muslims and Jews.

So, for the moment, non-stunned halal meat is available in Britain, but contra the Mail on Sunday, there’s not enough of it to satisfy the growing demand. As a Muslim, I often have great difficulty in deciding where to eat out, given the lack of halal restaurants (hence my excitement at Benares). One recent survey suggested nine out of every ten UK Muslims adhere to the strict rules on halal eating – that is, they reluctantly opt for the salmon, and not the steak, when eating out.

Nonetheless, even though they represent just 3 per cent of the population, Britain’s two million Muslims tend to eat much more meat, on average, than their non-Muslim counterparts. Reports suggest that British Muslims consume a fifth of all red meat sold in the UK.

I have British Muslim friends who book their holiday flights on Emirates, whatever their end destination, specifically in order to be able to stop off in transit in Dubai and buy a Big Mac from the airport’s halal McDonald’s. Some Muslims, it seems, will travel to the corners of the earth in pursuit of halal food.

Is it any wonder that the UK halal meat market is estimated to be worth £3bn? Or that fast-food chains in the UK such as McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza are working on trials offering halal meat?

Nando’s, the Portuguese mid-market restaurant chain, has perhaps gone furthest and fastest. One in five of its branches in the UK now serves halal-certified chicken, and I never cease to be amazed by the sea of hijabs among the diners at the Nando’s in south Harrow that has been my “local” for the past decade.

Then there’s KFC, which has responded to the raft of halal fried-chicken franchises (see Sophie Elmhirst’s piece on page 28) by running a halal trial in a hundred of its restaurants nationwide. On its UK website, KFC promises its customers that “our food is just as tasty and finger lickin’ good as it has always been”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also includes a list of defensive answers to “frequently asked questions” such as “Why have you chosen my store?” and “Does this mean your animal welfare standards have changed?”.

Protecting animals is the cover behind which critics of halal meat often hide. This month, Professor Bill Reilly, a past president of the British Veterinary Association, condemned the rise in the number of animals killed in ritual slaughter as “not acceptable”. “[I]f we cannot eliminate non-stunning, we need to keep it to the minimum,” he wrote in the Veterinary Record. “This means restricting the use of halal and kosher meat to those communities that require it for their religious beliefs and, where possible, convincing them of the acceptability of the stunned alternatives.”

Opponents of ritual slaughter cite a raft of scientific studies that condemn the practice as painful and abusive. In a much-discussed report published in 2003, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), an independent body that advised the UK government until its dissolution last year, argued that ritual methods of slaughter resulted in “significant pain and distress” for the animal and recommended that Muslims and Jews be banned from slaughtering livestock without stunning the animals first.

The FAWC’s findings were backed by a major EU-funded study “on issues of religious slaughter”, which concluded in 2010: “. . . it can be stated with the utmost probability that animals feel pain during the throat cut without prior stunning”.

Case closed? Not quite. Ruksana Shain, of the Muslim consumer group Behalal.org, says the scientific evidence against halal slaughter “isn’t conclusive”. But she would say that, wouldn’t she? OK. Well, consider the verdict of Joe Regenstein, professor of food science at Cornell University in the United States, who leads the university’s Kosher and Halal Food Initiative.

“Many of those attacking religious slaughter have no clue as to what is happening,” he tells me. “It is more of an Islamophobic issue, not an animal well-being issue.” Compared to modern, secular methods of slaughter, he says, “the traditional or Prophetic method might actually be equal or possibly superior” because the initial pain of the throat cut results “in the animal releasing large quantities of endorphins, putting it in a state of euphoria and numbness”. The cut thus serves as its own stun. The scientific evidence against halal slaughter, Regenstein says, “is extremely weak and has often been done poorly with an agenda driving a desired outcome”.

Missing defence

To pretend that Muslims do not care about animal welfare is unfair. There are several Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet warning Muslims not to harm livestock; mistreatment of animals is considered a sin by the vast majority of Islamic scholars. In fact, advocates of halal slaughter can call on their own slew of scientific studies for support.

In 1978, research led by Wilhelm Schulze of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover showed that “the slaughter in the form of a ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep and calves according to EEG [electroencephalography] recordings and the missing defensive actions [of the animals]”. The German Federal Constitutional Court based its 2002 verdict permitting ritual slaughter on this study.

Then there are the writings and research of Temple Grandin, professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University and one of America’s leading experts on the humane treatment and slaughter of livestock. She sees no difference between stunned and non-stunned slaughter if both are conducted properly and professionally. When a ritual slaughter is “done really right”, Grandin has said, “the animal seemed to act like it didn’t even feel it – if I walked up to that animal and put my hand in its face I would have got a much bigger reaction than I observed from the cut, and that was something which really surprised me”.

Remember, the “secular ways of slaughter”, as Regenstein points out, also have their downsides: “If the public were to discover that animals were subject to a pre-slaughter intervention – like having their skull cracked open, [being] electrocuted, or put in a gas chamber – they might not really like that either.” Shouldn’t consumers have a right to know which of these methods were used? Shouldn’t they be told about the danger of “mis-stunning”, which leaves the animal conscious and in pain, and occurs “relatively frequently”, according to a 2004 report by the European Food Safety Authority? Why not label all meat with detailed explanations of how exactly the animal in question was killed, and let consumers decide? “Why only pick on halal?” Ruksana Shain asks.

In the Commons debate on food labelling on 24 April, the Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, who is Jewish, criticised Philip Davies for singling out Muslims and Jews, saying he had “picked on two small minorities who share the way in which the meat they eat is killed”. However, Kaufman added that he would not have expressed his “total opposition to this bill” if it had cast its net wider to include other animals such as chickens that had been kept in “dreadful conditions”.

Preventing animal cruelty goes far beyond the “debate” about stunning or not stunning. And ironically, not all Muslims are opposed to stunning. There are two main organisations that regulate the halal food industry in the UK – the Halal Monitoring Committee, which has a “blanket ruling disallowing stunning in any form”, and the Halal Food Authority, which allows controlled stunning where the “animal or the birds do not die prior to slaughtering”, and which has certified KFC’s stunned chicken as halal.

Thus, most Muslim, and non-Muslim, participants in the heated debate over halal meat are ignoring a critical point. Data produced by the Meat Hygiene Service in 2004 suggested that roughly 90 per cent of halal slaughter in the UK involved stunning. In September 2011, the Food Standards Agency reported that “the majority of animals destined for the halal trade in both the red and white meat sectors are stunned before slaughter”. So what’s all the fuss about?

Consider the scare stories from the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, which automatically assume that all halal meat derives from the traditional,  non-stunned method of slaughter. What drove both papers’ coverage of the story? Are we seriously expected to believe that either the Mail or the Mail on Sunday gives a damn about animal rights? I struggle to recall the last occasion on which either tabloid splashed on the abuse or neglect of animals. More often than not, Mail columnists reserve rather harsh words (“deranged fanatics”, to quote Richard Littlejohn) for animal rights activists.

Crucially, if the hysteria over halal meat in Britain isn’t the product of Islamophobia, how do halal-obsessed politicians and journalists explain their silence on the subject of kosher meat? The 2003 Farm Animal Welfare Council report condemned both halal and kosher methods of slaughter. Yet, for instance, the Mail on Sunday, despite referring to “ritually slaughtered meat” in the headline of its “Britain goes halal . . .” report, went on to discuss only halal meat for the first 24 paragraphs of the piece before mentioning kosher meat – in passing – in the 25th paragraph.

The truth is that halal has become a proxy for much deeper fears and concerns about the presence of a growing and vocal Muslim population in our midst. “It’s being used as a political issue, especially by xenophobic and Islamophobic folks, to whip up a backlash against ‘the other’,” Regenstein says.

To pretend otherwise is naive, if not disingenuous. If this was a debate about animal welfare, it would be about all forms of slaughter; if it was a debate about ritual slaughter, it would address kosher, and not just halal, meat.

“Why only pick on halal?” It’s an important question in need of an urgent answer.

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A few hours before dawn, and even through the inky blackness it is clear this is no ordinary warehouse. Outside the building, gusts of wind send hay and straw flying, and the air is thick with the acrid sent of manure. Despite the darkness, I can see blood trickling down the gutters and a group of men clutching knives. Every so often, the eerie scene is punctured by the sound of lambs bleating. I am standing outside one of Britain’s abattoirs. To the casual observer, it is no different to any other slaughterhouse, though it’s strange to find one so close to a city centre that it’s within walking distance of Birmingham’s branch of Harvey Nichols.

I have visited several abattoirs for research purposes over the years, and by their very nature they’re noisy and messy places, with vats of blood and entrails the main difference here, though, is that this abattoir produces halal meat, in accordance with strict Islamic guidelines, Put simply, this means the animals killed here are not stunned with an electrical current — as they are at conventional slaughterhouses — to render them unconscious before they are dispatched.

Instead, they are fully conscious as their throats are slit by a slaughterman as he utters prayers to Allah to ‘bless’ the animal. The creature then bleeds to death in a process that can take more than 30 seconds. Killing an animal by cutting its throat without stunning is, in fact, illegal in this country. However, there is a legal loophole allowing this if it is being done for religious reasons — in other words, for the production of halal or kosher meat.

But this is an exemption that the British Veterinary Association and the Government’s advisers, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, are objecting to, saying this form of slaughter causes ‘intolerable cruelty’. They have repeatedly demanded that it be banned.

‘In the Holy Book, it says that the animal should hear  the prayers of Allah. If it’s unconscious, then it won’t be able to do that .’For their part, many Muslims claim it is their religious duty to eat only halal meat from unstunned animals. It is vital, they say, that the animal be slaughtered while fully conscious so it can receive Allah’s blessing.

Yet recent reports have suggested that it is not just devout Muslims who are consuming halal meat. several months ago, it was revealed that supermarkets such as Waitrose and Tesco, fast food chains including KFC’s, schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues such as Ascot and Wembley are serving up halal meat to unwitting customers, in the case of  KFC the same chicken slaughterhouse is supplying both Muslim and non Muslim with the same production, and the ironically it’s against the Sikh community to consume halal, yet one of their own, who is the owner of 2 sister’s is doing just that.

When I applied to be shown around a number of halal slaughterhouses, calls went unreturned and messages unanswered for weeks.So I decided to go undercover, posing as a potential buyer of halal meat for a fictional chain of high-quality ‘bespoke meats’. After four weeks, I finally managed to find an abattoir willing to show me the entire production process — from ‘squeals to meals’. Once I had outlined my fictional business proposal, a Birmingham-based company called Mr Meats agreed to show me around its abattoir. The owner, Masti Khan, was unfailingly polite and eager to please.

Mr Meats slaughters around 1,000 animals a night, mostly sheep and goats, but occasionally cattle, too. When I step inside, the first thing that hits me is the overpowering stench — a nasty, fatty smell that sticks in the throat. And then there’s the noise of machinery, interspersed with bleating animals and the slaughtermen uttering prayers. Hundreds of sheep and lambs are penned up in tiny stalls. From time to time, one tries — and fails — to escape by leaping over the bars of its pen. But then the same would be true of any abattoir. It is only when it comes to the actual slaughter that the differences become apparent. I watch — and secretly film — as the animals are herded onto a conveyor belt that leads them to the slaughterman, who is wearing a blue hairnet over his hair and beard in accordance with hygiene requirements .Holding one lamb at a time, he pulls back its head and slits the throat with a swift movement from his razor-sharp knife. Blood gushes everywhere as he recites the Islamic Bismillah prayer in Arabic: ‘In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.’

One of the supervisors, who oversees the firm’s 50 or so largely Muslim employees, explained to me the religious principle behind this process. ‘Animals that are stunned are not halal. An animal that is unconscious is not going to hear the prayer ‘In the Holy Book, it says that the animal should hear the prayers of Allah. If it’s unconscious, then it won’t be able to do that. ’Lamb after lamb has its throat sliced open while fully conscious. They make pitiful bleating and gurgling sounds as they choke on their own blood. It’s a chilling sound that, once heard,  the reason for that is  UK law states that the animal must remain in situ for a minimum of 20 second.

During my two-hour visit, I watched  as lamb after lamb has its throat sliced open while fully conscious. They make pitiful bleating and gurgling sounds as they choke on their own blood. It’s a chilling sound that, once heard, stays with you for days afterwards. And then there’s the fact that the animals can witness each other being killed as they travel along the conveyor belt. Their hooves twitch wildly as they try to break fee , One lamb cries out for more than 20 seconds before it flops off the end of the conveyor belt and on to a rotating table. From there, it is shackled by its hind legs and hauled up to the ceiling on a hook, where it is left with a dozen others to ‘bleed out’ — another important part of the halal process. Of course, no slaughter of an animal is easy to watch. But it is hard to remain dispassionate as I watch dozens of still-conscious animals bleeding to death, the floor covered by an inch of warm, frothy blood. That is not to say that conventional abattoirs operate without fault. Earlier this year, I investigated an organic slaughterhouse, certified by the Soil Association, that had been secretly filmed by the welfare group Animal Aid, Inside the staff were caught beating animals and failing to stun them before cutting their throats and in the case of pigs over 30 % inhumanly transported.

Steve McGrath, chief executive of the Meat Hygiene Service, later said: ‘I have watched the film and have seen abject cruelty by the slaughtermen to the animals being killed; ineffective stunning; animals having their necks dislocated and heads decapitated before being fully bled; pigs being kicked; and shackling before stunning.’ Similar problems were found in every one of the seven slaughterhouses that Animal Aid secretly filmed, despite the presence of Government appointed vets. At least in this halal abattoir, I do not witness any deliberate mistreatment, in fact quite the opposite care was given prior to slaughter, It is impossible to find out how many animals are killed in halal abattoirs. The last Labour administration ordered the Meat Hygiene Service to stop keeping records. It was ostensibly a cost-cutting measure, but animal welfare groups fear it was to help disguise the rapid growth of the halal meat industry. However, the last available figures, from 2004, suggest that 114 million halal animals and 2.1 million kosher ones are killed annually. However, some halal producers — aware of the controversy that ritual slaughter can provoke — do stun their animals first, causing huge tensions within the Muslim community over the interpretation of what is, and isn’t, halal meat.

Some organisations, such as the Halal Monitoring Committee, post inspectors inside abattoirs, including Mr Meats, to ensure that animals are not stunned before their throats are cut.( all meat and poultry in the UK have their throat cut in every abattoirs)

Other organisations, however, say that stunning is acceptable. Nizar Boga, an Islamic scholar and former adviser on dietary issues at the London Central Mosque, says: ‘The Prophet told us about the need to care for animals, especially during slaughter. It’s absolutely forbidden in Islam for an animal to be aware of death during slaughter. Boga said ‘Organisations like the Halal Monitoring Committee are frightening decent Muslims for their own ends. They are making money from this.‘ Their interpretation of Islam on this issue is simply wrong. All of the top Muslim scholars around the world agree on this. Muslims have to respect animals.’

Either way, keeping track of what meat has or hasn’t come from stunned animals is hard to monitor, causing huge difficulties for British consumers of all faiths who would prefer to buy meat from animals that have been killed using the more humane method of slaughter. This is increasingly important now that most leading supermarkets, including Tesco and Asda, sell halal meat. Tesco, for example, launched a halal barbecue range last summer and reported strong sales. So which method of slaughter do the supermarket giants use?

A spokesman for Tesco says: ‘Pre-stunned meat produced to halal standards conforms to all our stringent hygiene and animal welfare standards.’

For their part, Morrison says that ‘all of our fresh meat is 100 per cent British and non-halal. Only our frozen New Zealand lamb is halal.’

As for Asda, the supermarket says its policy is ‘that all animals used for Asda brand products, halal or non-halal, are stunned’. But it turns out that is not quite the full story. I decided to visit six Asda stores in London that have specialist in store butcher’s shops, run as independent concessions operating under the name Haji Baba. The stores in Hounslow, Colindale, Walthamstow, Beckton and the Isle of Dogs confirmed to me that the meat they sold was ‘authentically halal’‘ The animals were not stunned,’ they said.

Though the store workers did not know the precise source of the meat, Masti Khan, the owner of Mr Meats, told me that he has supplied lamb to the six Asda stores I visited .Confronted with my findings, Asda told me: ‘Haji Baba is an independent company. The method of slaughter is a matter for Haji Baba and their customers. ‘All Asda brand products are stunned. The abattoir that the Daily Mail filmed inside is not used for Asda branded products.’ True but the fact that they are cleared though their cash tills it remains the property of  Asda stores, all  product sold in Asda should clearly be  labelled,  in their halal  butchery section does not high lights the source, even though  it is all non stun as advised by Haji Baba.

The key point is that wherever the meat comes from, consumers should have a clearer  labelled choice which is not the case in  Asda, one shopper I asked said we don’t know the source of our meat, we are told its nothing to do with them even though we are shopping in Asda, when you ask the butchery section they say that they only purchase from halal supplier and that’s it , how can we be sure not only  about stun and non stun what about stringent hygiene check’s ?  Yet given that there is no legal requirement to label whether meat comes from stunned or unstunned animals, the chances are you’ve already eaten halal killed in the way I witnessed — or soon will do, as 40% of the fresh poultry in the UK and 30% fresh meat in the UK is slaughtered  halal.

In Europe, pressure is building to standardise slaughtering practices to ensure that the majority of all animals are killed without stunning In France, for example, 80 per cent of all sheep are killed without stunning, and almost all animals in Belgium are slaughtered  while fully conscious. And this process is beginning to accelerate in Britain, too. Consumer and animal welfare groups claim this is illegal because the exemption from animal welfare laws granted to Muslims and Jews is being extended across the whole meat industry, purely to cut costs ‘This is no longer about religion,’ says Peter Stevenson of Compassion In World Farming, ‘The exemption in the law was not granted to the food industry to streamline its production processes and make life easier for itself —this is largely exploited by non Muslim companies to tap into this growing halal market. ‘We are not opposed to halal as long as the animals are stunned before they are killed.’ The European Parliament decided to try to force the food industry to label halal and kosher meat as coming from ‘unstunned  animals’. The legislation faces an uphill struggle, as all EU member states will have to approve the legislation before it can become law.

James Paice, minister of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says that, in principle, the Government supports labelling, he told the House of Commons: ‘This is a highly emotive issue, and I understand the demand for labelling, ‘The Government would like all animals to be properly stunned before they are bled to slaughter. There is a discussion at European level about food information regulations, but we do not believe that is the right vehicle, we will consult on implementation of the European animal welfare regulations, and the labelling issue will certainly be examined as part of that, ’Whatever your beliefs on the rights and wrongs of religious slaughter, surely we should all welcome the choice over whether we buy such meat, Support for clear labelling of all halal meat also comes from an unlikely source.

When I confronted Masti Khan, owner of Mr Meats slaughterhouse, after my visit, he said: ‘Consumers should be given the choice. I have nothing to hide. ‘This is a multi-racial country, and people have different religions. It’s wrong for supermarkets not to clearly label all halal meat weather they coming from animals that have not been pre-stunned or not.’ As some of my Sikh friends here in Birmingham do not want to eat any form halal, we as Muslim respect their rights not to be forced to eat halal meat or any of else be forced to consume halal without their knowledge.

In my opinion the non Muslim companies are causing the problem they are forcing UK to consume halal , the Muslim companies want clearer labelling and non Muslim ccompanies don’t so that they have a piece of the halal market, profit above principles.

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Nestlé Malaysia, producer of the company’s biggest range of halal products, is celebrating its centenary.

Nestlé consumers worldwide have been able to buy halal versions of the company’s well-known brands such as Milo, Nescafé, Maggi, Kit Kat andNespray since the 1980s.

Today Nestlé Malaysia produces about 300 halal products in its food and beverage range which are exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.

Halal certified products are sourced, manufactured, imported and distributed in accordance with Islamic law to meet the needs of Muslim consumers.
Hub of expertise

Malaysia was Nestlé’s first market to apply for halal certification for all its food products. This followed the Malaysian government’s introduction of voluntary halal certification in 1994.

Nestlé Malaysia is now the company’s global Halal Centre of Excellence.

This means it offers policy guidelines, know-how and expertise on halal to other Nestlé markets.

Nestlé Malaysia’s Halal Policy outlines information on ingredients, sourcing, production, packaging and transportation of Nestlé halal products.

A Halal Committee which includes senior executives from various areas in the company was established in the 1980s. It has become part of the policy to ensure it addresses matters in relation to halal certification.

Centenary celebrations

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé’s Chief Executive Officer, emphasised the importance of Nestlé Malaysia at a recent event to mark the company’s 100th anniversary.

“Nestlé Malaysia plays an important role to the Nestlé Group,” he said.

“Not only because of the country’s unique location at the heart of the region which allows our business easier access to the South East Asian market.

“But also because of its strategic role as the biggest halal producer and the Halal Centre of Excellence in the Nestlé world,” Mr Bulcke added.

A number of other activities throughout the year will be led by Nestlé Malaysia to mark its centenary.
Nourishing generations

Nestlé started its operations in 1912 as the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in the Malaysian state of Penang.

It set up its first factory 50 years later in Petaling Jaya, near to the capital of Kuala Lumpur, producing sweetened condensed milk, the beverage brand Milo, and tomato and chilli sauces.

The company now employs more than 5,700 employees in Malaysia. It operates seven factories, all of which are halal certified.

“What began as a small organisation 100 years ago is now a very successful business,” said Mr Bulcke.

“Over time the company has become a natural part of society, nourishing generations of Malaysian families.”
Halal worldwide

Other leading Nestlé markets which produce halal products include Indonesia and the Middle East.

In Europe, Nestlé’s halal products are manufactured mainly in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Nestlé halal products are also produced in the United States.

A halal inspection authority, such as the Halal Food Council of Europe, inspects the company’s factories with a Nestlé Halal Committee member to ensure products comply with Islamic law before halal certification is awarded.

A total of 85 out of Nestlé’s 456 factories worldwide are halal certified.

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By Arielle Golden

Ninety million tons of food is wasted each year in the European Union, and food waste is expected to grow by 40 percent by 2020.

A mound of food waste. (Photo credit: EcoWatch)

The European Union has declared 2014 the European year against food waste and in the lead up, is examining the effects on food waste from food packaging. Within the industry, using fewer and more efficient materials for packaging has a positive impact on the costs of getting food packaged and into the grocery store. In the EU, new innovations in packaging are being developed to ensure that foods reach the store shelf long before the expiration date, which will prevent food being thrown away before consumers have a chance to purchase it. Organic material, including vegetables, fruit, and other foods naturally emit ethylene gas, which helps them mature but also facilitates the decomposition process.  A special coating for corrugated cardboard can protect food from gases that trigger decomposition, minimizing losses when food is packaged, transported to grocery stores, and purchased by consumers. Another set of innovations includes smart packaging materials, such as a type of foil that can test the microbiology of what is contained in a package. This would indicate the freshness of the contents to the consumer more clearly by displaying important information about how ripe or fresh a product really is.

But 42 percent of food waste occurs in households, according to a 2011 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Consumers typically consider food waste as a supply chain problem – they tend to think that the majority of food waste occurs between the time it is grown until it reaches the shelves of the grocery store. But packaging can be part of the solution for minimizing household food waste. Packaging sizes for single or fewer portions, for example, or re-sealable and compartmentalized packages, can limit unnecessary waste by allowing consumers to keep the products for longer as they use only the portions that are necessary, and seal away the rest for later. To increase public understanding of the various best-before date labels, there must be an increase in education and marketing to make them easier to follow.

The European Parliament passed a January 2012 resolution, “How to avoid food wastage: strategies for a more efficient food chain in the EU” which in addition to measures to improve packaging, discussed a way to utilize products that go to waste at the retail level. The resolution proposed taking foods that are damaged or close to their expiration dates and selling them at discounted prices, to make them more accessible to people in need. They also discussed incentives for hospitality and catering businesses to buy local produce and donate leftover food to food banks free-of-charge.

The United Kingdom is already taking steps to decrease food waste, with a successful food waste initiative boasting a three-pronged integrated approach: communication with consumers, working with the food industry, and working with the packaging industry. The U.K.-based Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) is working with major food packaging companies to develop new pack technologies that increase shelf life, and packages that bring the consumer’s attention to a product once its expiration date is near.  They introduced produce bags for the grocery store that have printed labels describing how to best store different items.  As the EU and other regions begin to tackle the challenge, we can put more of our food on our tables instead of into the landfill.

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By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS STAFF

British Ambassador Sir Tom Phillips cutting the ribbon to mark the opening of the British Week at Lulu Hypermarket in Riyadh on Saturday, while Shehim Mohammed Unni, Lulu regional director (left) looks on. (AN photo)

RIYADH: Sir Tom Phillips, British ambassador, inaugurated the “British Week”, a major British food festival, at the Lulu Hypermarket in the Saudi capital yesterday. The “British Week”, organized by Lulu Hypermarkets in Riyadh and Dammam in cooperation with the local embassy of the United Kingdom, showcases more than 3,000 exclusively imported British products for the first time in the Kingdom under one roof and on promotional prices.

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