China’s halal food producers are small-scale entrepreneurs whose products have little value added and lack branding and technology to push their goods to international standards, so it offers an opportunity for Thai Halal merchandise to penetrate the Chinese market.
Last month, the EU Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee voted in favour of new labelling regulations requiring meat to be labelled as stunned or non-stunned. The new measures will be put forward for full approval by the parliament in July.
Sunny Foodmart is owned by three Chinese Canadians who have stocked food from a multitude of cultures and reached out to Muslim customers with a certified halal meat counter.
Major North American food companies have been expanding their overseas markets for decades. But targeting ethnic consumers on home turf is still relatively uncharted territory. Industry analysts say that’s changing, as shifting demographics in Canada force mainstream food companies to recognize new growth opportunities among domestic minority groups.
European law is to change, and retailers will be soon forced to reveal all foods that have been previously frozen. Top of the list is the lovely ‘fresh baked’ bread that we love to smell as we walk past the bakery section in the supermarket. Sorry, but most of it has just gone straight from the freezer to the oven.
Adnan Durrani, CEO of American Halal (parent company of Saffron Road), said, “We had this intuitive vision over a year ago – that with Saffron Road we could build a Halal brand based on ethical consumerism, which embodied the timeless values of the natural food movement our team had embraced over the last two decades: antibiotic-free, hormone-free, sustainably-farmed, and Certified Humane®.
“The number of available halal products in the U.S. is miniscule,” says Jack Acree, president of Stamford, Conn.-based American Halal Co., which manufactures Saffron Road products, one of the few lines of all-natural, certified-Halal packaged foods.
NTUC FairPrice, which is run by Singapore’s National Trade Union Congress, started offering the Brunei halal products in the middle of October 2010, the first supermarket chain to do so outside the Sultanate.
The Church’s financial arm has also come under pressure to withdraw its investments – worth millions of pounds – in supermarkets that do not clearly label halal food.
Nestle’s Position Statement on their withdrawal of Herta Halal products until full assessment has been made of the necessary supply chain needs.
Many labels describe only one aspect of how a meat or dairy product was produced. Depending upon what aspects of food production concern you most, these labels may be sufficient. But be careful not to assume that they provide information about anything other than the one practice the labels describe.
Food safety compliance has improved significantly in fast food restaurants, full-service restaurants, and produce markets and departments, according to a Food and Drug Administration study that monitored more than 800 retail food establishments from 1998-2008.
One of the Sultanate’s largest producers of poultry products changed their name from A’Saffa Poultry to A’Saffa Foods earlier this year to facilitate their plans to diversify and expand their range of Halal and 100 per cent healthy and tasty food products into new markets.
Trumpeted by its manufacturer as one more way that Muslims can integrate into European society, especially during the holiday season, the drink has been widely derided as a misguided and ultimately demeaning attempt to imitate non-Muslim habits.
Religious groups argue that slaughter of animals for halal and kosher meat which is unstunnned is humane.
Adnan Durrani, the “Chief Halal Officer” of new food manufacturer American Halal saw a market opportunity with more discerning Muslim consumers, and his line of Saffron Road-branded halal ready meals found success in the upscale Whole Foods Market chain.
The supermarket giant is adding specialist Turkish, Sri Lankan, Latin, Filipino, African, South African and Greek-Cypriot ranges to a roster that already includes Asian, Oriental, Afro-Caribbean, Kosher, Polish, and Halal foods.
According to a recent gallup study, Muslim Americans have the least amount of income disparity between the genders. The Muslim American community also happens to be the most ethnically diverse.
Islamic Finance news – IFN Today, Thursday, 17th May 2012
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