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Many Macedonian companies express interest in meeting Halal standards

salama — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:38:42 +0000

‘Vigo-48′, ‘Pik Ko’ and ‘Makprogres’ are the first three Macedonian companies to be awarded with the Halal certificate. All of them are exporters of food products with already implemented Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system.

The Halal standard, whose implementation will enable domestic companies to enter a large market, means production of food in accordance to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic (Sharia) law. Halal product is a product that meets all the regulations on food safety, hygiene and sanitation, whose composition does not contain a single ingredient that is forbidden for Muslims to use, which applies the requirements of Halal production standards, and which does not use prohibited raw materials and other resources. As such, Halal product has no substitute and it is protected against competition.

Amir Sakic, Director of Bosnian Agency of Halal Quality Certification, says many companies connect Halal standards with the markets of contries with predominantly Muslim population.

“They forget that there are over five million consumers of Halal products only in our region, which is not a minor figure. On the other hand, our products also have access to European market, namely to 20 million potential consumers of such products,” Sakic said Thursday in Skopje at the certificate awarding ceremony.

Thus far the Agency has issued Halal certificates to 73 companies in the Balkan region, mostly Bosnian and Croatian, Sakic said.

Macedonia has recently joined the process, and considering the interest of businessmen, we believe the number of domestic producers that meet Halal standards is to be much higher, Sakic said.

Halal standard is a document that clearly defines procedures of Halal certification. Halal standard prescribes: what is allowed and what is forbidden to Muslims; how implementation of the provisions of Halal standards is certified and verified; how the Halal slaughter of animals is performed; how Halal products are marked; which additives are Halal, and which are not.

Domestic Islamic Religious Community (IVZ), in cooperation with B&H Agency for Halal Quality Certification, issues the Halal certificate in Macedonia.

Companies are implementing the Halal standard voluntarily, being driven exclusively by their commercial interest, said Jakup Selimovski, Head of the IVZ sector for religious education.

World Halal market meets the needs of 1.8 billion Muslim customers, while there are many non-Muslims who consume such products. Obtaining Halal certification opens the door of global Halal market to companies for sale of their products. Halal market is growing fast with more consumer awareness not only of food sector, but also of non-food products, like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, healthcare, toiletries and other non-consumable items.

Netherlands: No veterinarian present? Then no ritual slaughter, says minister

salama — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:59:09 +0000

The government is to make it compulsory for a veterinarian to be present during the ritual slaughter of animals, junior minister Henk Bleker is quoted as saying in a briefing to the senate on Tuesday.

At the moment, small slaughterhouses are not required to have a vet on the premises, but that must change within the next three months, Bleker said. The government will help pay for the changes, the NRC reported.

The move is one of several measures Bleker wants to introduce to improve animal welfare when animals are killed according to the Jewish or Muslim faith.

Ban

Although the lower house of parliament voted in favour of a ban on killing animals without them being stunned or anaesthetised, the upper house of parliament is against the ban on freedom of religion grounds.

The involvement of a vet is part of a compromise deal put forward by Bleker.

Bleker also wants to introduce a limit on the length of time an animal can take to die after its throat is cut and the maximum number of cuts. Those limits will be drawn up in consultation with religious groups, the NRC said.

The minister also wants to stop the export of halal and kosher meat from the Netherlands to other countries. The senate, or upper house of parliament, is due to vote on the ban later on Tuesday.

Ritual slaughter ban fails in Dutch Senate

salama — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:35:56 +0000

Animal Rights Party leader Marianne Thieme’s plan to introduce a ban on ritual slaughter has failed to make it through the Senate, the upper house of the Dutch parliament. Ms Thieme withdrew from the debate after intervention by Agriculture Minister Bleker.

Mr Bleker presented a compromise during the debate. He wants to make agreements with slaughter houses and the Islamic and Jewish community on the length of time that an animal is conscious before dying and the number of animals ritually slaughtered. The Senate has asked for a letter from the minister explaining his plan.

Ms Thieme wanted to ban the ritual slaughter of animals because they are not stunned before they are killed and therefore experience extra stress and pain. The bill was passed with a large majority in the lower house in June, but in the Senate only the Animal Rights Party, the Freedom Party, the 50PLUS party and the Independent Senators bloc openly back the bill. Evenually the Socialist Party, the Democrats D66 and Green Left sided with the Animal Rights Party after they were persuaded by Ms Thieme.

VVD senator Sybe Schaap had already made up his mind. He saw nothing in the idea and called on Ms Thieme to review her draft legislation.

During the debate, the Labour Party, Christian Democrats and the orthodox Christian SGP party were also critical. They want to know whether animal suffering would be sufficiently reduced to warrant a limitation of religious freedom. At the moment, ritual slaughter is permitted by way of a legal exception. In the end, it became clear that Ms Thieme did not have a majority of the Senate behind her after the Labour Party decided to oppose the bill.

Many Senators thought the bill was merely token legislation, arguing that kosher (Jewish) and halal (Muslim) meat will simply be imported from abroad.

Senators also criticised the legislation because it states that if slaughterhouses can prove that animals do not undergo extra suffering they may be exempted from the ban. The Senators say this is a reversal of the burden of proof and therefore a dead letter.

(nc/tf)

EU: Euro Halal Conference Postponed

salama — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:59:49 +0000

Dear Sir or Madam,

EUROHALAL MARKET, the European Halal Trade Fair exclusively dedicated to professionals from all Halal sectors, became in a few months the International Halal business platform for professionals from all over the world. In this context, the success of 2011 edition was on its way.

However, 2011 turned out to reveal important changes at worldwide level; first with the social, political and the subsequent economic shocks in the Arab world and secondly, with the resonance of the new financial crisis that hit the world economy.

In light of these events, we have noticed the difficulties in participation for many registered exhibitors.

In this respect, we are compelled with regret to postpone the Exhibition to the 26^th, 27^th & 28^th of November 2012.

This decision stems also from our objectives to provide the best quality of exhibition in an environment which strives to be both open-minded and result-oriented in order to guarantee the significant Halal development at worldwide level. Indeed, we believe more than ever in the incredible progression of this dynamic market offering bountiful opportunities.

We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause. We have already started working on the most relevant solutions for the success of your participation at the 2012 edition.

EUROHALAL MARKET TEAM

GD DIFFUSION
Place Leemans, 14
1050 Brussels
BELGIUM
Tel : +32 (0)2 644 37 00
Fax : +32 (0)2 640 06 72
info@eurohalalmarket.com

Exhibitors : exhibitors@eurohalalmarket.com
Visitors : visitors@eurohalalmarket.com
Press : press@eurohalalmarket.com

Are airline meals labeled Muslim Meals really Halal?

salama — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:45:24 +0000

MOML caution!

Consumers have been cheated due to economical reason?

On flights to the Islamic countries, Muslims are often the absolute majority of Passengers. The business of airline companies is booming not only in the Summer months, when Muslims with their large families in their home countries fly, but also during the Hajj season. As a target group that fly to the south and east to fill much sought after, we wondered how it looks like the onboard service for these customers?

According to information provided by IATA, the International Air Transport Association, there are no such rules as a “Muslim-friendly” look-flight meal, but each airline determines arbitrarily what they served their Muslim customers. This would be unobjectionable if the appropriate experts available in the employee pool would be sufficient among the airlines or the availability knowledge of Halal requirements for general education in Europe. But this is not so.

In reality, the airline caterer, supplier of on-board meals, in Europe simply overwhelmed them. So there are many caterers for the Muslim passengers are offering two different types of meal: the MOML – “Moslem Meal” and a “Halal Meal”.

The MOML – “Muslim Meal” is just a meal “without pork and without Alcohol “(In the jargon Airline Caterer term it is called a “Non-Pork”-Meal). Everything else does not meet the Islamic dietary laws. It is also not the laid down claim that the meat would be Halal slaughtered or the ingredients are Halal-compliant.

But the “Halal Meal”, instead is something “more halal” because the ingredients are purchased and processed so that they are Islam-compliant. This is true especially for the meat with halal confirmation.

Anyone familiar with the intricacies of the assessment of halal, knows that the buyers from the caterer should be overwhelmed with the appropriate ingredients to find for a Halal Meal, because on the local market do have only a few food ingredients and a Halal Certificate from a recognized Certification Authority or Halal Body.

According to information from the airline caterer, there are purely economic reasons, instead of “Halal Meals” is usually the cheaper to offer MOML “Muslim Meal”(Non Pork meal).

That with the (false) labeling MOML “Muslim Meal” for their Muslim Passengers and cheated or deceived halal meals are served to them, neither halal nor Islam is justifiable by these companies tacitly to accept it and claim the main component is true halal. As the claim of the airlines companies agree to open-mindedness and customer orientation with the practice, their Muslim passengers are not been informed about what they are served and what will get to be seen.

As proven, that it can be handled in different manner without any negative impact on revenue and have real Halal service as demonstrated by the good example of Malaysia Airlines. This airline ordered in their contract from designated caterers throughout the year a specially compiled “Halal Meal “which are produced according to the strict Malaysian Airline Halal standards and is guaranteed to Islam-compliant.

Halal.deRedaktion
www.halal.de

Bosnia – Uncharted Land

salama — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:03:27 +0000

Bosnia could easily become a major halaal tourist destination, tapping the huge potential of the growing Muslim consumer market, the country’s cultural heritage and strategic geographic location, according to Amir Sakic, the head of the regional halaal certification institution – the Agency for Halaal Quality Certification.

The halaal hospitality industry caters to the needs of Muslim families who abide by Sharia rules. The most strict halaal hotels do not serve alcohol or pork; they have prayer facilities and separate swimming pools and spa facilities for men and women.

The mixture of different religions, customs and tradition combined with rich historic background and natural landscape makes Bosnia a hot tourist destination. To halaal tourists the country can be especially attractive with its cultural heritage of a territory that was once part of the Ottoman empire.

“We definitely have a significant inflow of foreign tourists from the Islamic countries, though we should not forget that quite a big number of people who live according to halaal rules and observe the halaal practices live in the European Union,” Sakic said.

He said that more than 15 million Muslims live in the European Union, according to official data, and they are all potential clients of the halaal hospitality industry.

“It is important that these services are not limited to Muslims exclusively,” he said, drawing a parallel with halaal food fans in Britain, two-thirds of whom are non-Muslims.

“If we have to make a profile of those who want such a service, these are not only people who come on vacation, but also people who come on business and for other reasons.”

Sakic said that there is no comprehensive official data about foreign tourist arrivals in Bosnia but it is a fact that a huge number of tourists from Turkey visit the Balkan country throughout the year and the number of tourists coming from Kuwait is on the rise.

Halaal tourism is an emerging industry, which hopes to ride the wave of success of the Islamic food and banking industries. Progress, however, is slow. The agency Sakic heads was founded six years ago and since then has certified, or is in the process of certifying, all the leading food makers in Bosnia but has awarded only one licence to a local restaurant – the Terasa restaurant in Sarajevo – and none to a hotel yet.

This situation will change shortly as the country’s first halaal hotel will soon be certified, he said, adding that the agency is reviewing several certification applications at the moment.

“We already have hotels that are 90 per cent ready to provide such a service,” he said.

In June, the agency signed a partnership agreement with Singapore-based Crescentrating, the world leader in providing halaal–friendly rating for the travel services, on the promotion of halaal–friendly travel services and facilities in Southeast Europe.

Halaal–friendly hotels are ranked on a one-to-seven grade scale according to the scope of halaal services they provide. A rating of one to three implies practically no adjustment to a regular hotel apart from the “soft change” that includes readiness to provide guests with specific information about halaal services and facilities in the hotel’s surrounding area. Grades four and five mean the hotel’s restaurant should serve halaal food.

Hotels graded six and seven are known as “dry hotels” as they offer no alcohol.

Halaal hotels in Bosnia can start off with a very good grade, as one reason for this is the progress made in the certification of food companies which guarantees smooth supply of halaal food, Sakic said.

The scope of the agency is not limited to Bosnia only. It is the only halaal certification oragnisation in SEE, issuing halaal certificates to catering facilities and hotels in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria and Macedonia. It provides halaal certification of the food industry, as well as other industrial branches, on the territory of Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. It has so far issued certificates for more than 1500 food products to companies from the ex-Yugoslavia countries.

“Excluding Kosovo, where such a certification has not yet officially started, all other republics of former Yugoslavia already have certified food producers,” Sakic said.
Back to tourism, in June the agency together with Crescentrating organised a round table to promote halaal travel services, targeting hoteliers and tourism agencies from Bosnia, Slovenia and Montenegro. The event has yielded tangible results.

“In the first week after the promotion we received a line of inquiries from tourism agencies from the Gulf countries, asking us to help them establish contact with our agencies so that they could co-operate in the sector.”

Inspired by the success, Sakic said more such promotions in other countries in the region will follow. The role of the local tourist agencies in promoting this service and including it in tourist packages and arrangements is extremely important, he said.

Most applications for halaal hotel certificates come from Bosnia and Slovenia, Sakic said, adding that he expects to see interest rise after the end of the summer season.

“Busy work on co-ordinating and preparing for awarding certificates to winter resort hotels is underway at the moment, and it is pretty certain that before the start of the winter season a definite number of hotels will be completely ready to provide halaal services to their clients.”

In the summer resorts, the preparations for the launch of halaal services should be wrapped up during the autumn and the winter, he said.

Bosnia has only several kilometers of coastline but is rich in picturesque mountains that could be promoted as tourism destinations throughout the year.

“The mountain resorts hide significant potential and can be interesting beyond the winter season with an adequate organisation of recreation and sport activities such as mountain trekking, paragliding and others,” Sakic said.

Bosnian capital Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics and nine sports venues in the city and its surrounding mountains were used.

In Sakic’s view, Bosnia should promote the full range of its attractions as a traditional tourist destination to lure halaal tourists – its medieval heritage, as well as the numerous monuments from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian period.

Crescentrating said that the three highest-ranked places in its 2011 list of top 10 destinations for Muslim travellers worldwide were Malaysia, Turkey and Egypt.

The share of Muslim travellers in the 2010 global tourism spending rose to nine per cent, or $90 billion, from six er cent in 2006, data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and Crescentrating showed.

Crescentrating sees the share of Muslim travellers in global tourism spending moving up to between 12.5 per cent and 15 per cent in 2020, which translates to between $188 billion and $225 billion, based on the rising share of Muslims in the world’s population.

Reprinted from SEE TOP 100, the only ranking of the largest non-financial companies, banks and insurers in Southeastern Europe. It features 132 pages of industry analyses and forecasts, expert opinions and interviews with the region’s leading executives and business people. SEE TOP 100 is published by SeeNews, a business information provider for Southeast Europe, in strategic partnership with the global strategic management consulting firm A.T. Kearney and in exclusive content partnership with Euromonitor International. For more information please visit http://top100.seenews.com or request a hard copy at consulting@seenews.com.

EU: HSBC’s Islamic unit says funds to exceed $10bn

salama — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:42:58 +0000

ArabianBusiness.com

Wealth from GCC investors will add more than $70bn to the Islamic fund universe

HSBC Amanah Securities Services, part of HSBC Holdings, will more than double the value of the Islamic funds it services to exceed $10bn after it helps to set up funds in the next 12 to 18 months.

Demand for Islamic funds has risen in the past three to six months as the global economic slowdown prompted investors to seek alternative investments to help manage risk, according to Germain Birgen, Luxembourg-based global head of HSBC Amanah Securities. The unit will help set up more than 30 Sharia-compliant funds globally.

About $10 trillion was wiped from the value of global equities in the third quarter amid concern a worsening European debt crisis will derail global growth. Sharia law forbids gambling, investments in alcohol and receipt of interest, so fund managers have to select investments deemed halal, or permissible.

“Islamic funds are not exposed to the same level of derivative techniques as conventional funds,” he said in a telephone interview from Luxembourg today. “Conventional institutional managers, targeting institutional investors such as pension funds or insurance companies, are investing in socially responsible investments, which in most markets, Islamic funds fall under that category,” he said.

HSBC Amanah Securities has received a growing number of queries for Islamic funds from clients in countries, such as Australia, South Africa and Brazil, he said. “One project coming from Brazil relates to a private equity fund investing into farming, Brazil being one of the world’s biggest exporter of halal meat,” Birgen said.

Wealth from investors in the Gulf Cooperation Council will add more than $70bn to the so-called addressable Islamic fund universe by 2013, Ernst & Young MENA said last month.

“Increasingly, people are seeing the value in attracting the world’s Muslim wealth with such funds,” Birgen said. “With the current size of the industry, there aren’t enough funds.”

HSBC Amanah Securities services 90 funds in 12 domiciles valued at about $5bn, a tenth of the Sharia-complaint fund industry, Birgen said. Mature fund markets, such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, target mainly local investors, he said. The new funds will help attract “large, conventional players” worldwide.

The unit will help establish some of the funds in Luxembourg, Ireland and Singapore, where regulations are more familiar to international investors, he said.

EU: Halal food market grows, 5 bln-euro potential in Italy

salama — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:17:40 +0000

Halal (conforming to Islamic rules) food is seeing double-digit growth the world over and even in Italy – due to rising interest by companies in the sector – it could soon become normal to find ”Islamically correct” labelled products on supermarket shelves.

”The development potential of this market,” said Hamid Roberto Distefano, the managing director of Halal Italia, an agency authorising Islamic certification of firms and products, ”is around 4 or 5 billion euros.”

Since the label was brought in a year ago on the initiative of Co.re.is. (Islamic Religious Community), sponsored by the Foreign, Economic Development, Health and Agricultural Policies ministries, 30 small and large enterprises have been certified and the same number are undergoing the procedure to do so.

”It is a move,” Distefano said at a meeting organised by Promos today at the Milan Chamber of Commerce,” that many are making especially in relation to exports, even though enterprises are discovering a domestic market made up of 1.5 million Muslim citizens, Today, if they want to eat strictly halal food they stock up for the most part in small shops which often become ghettos.

In this sense certification can aid integration by fostering the sharing of space and a shared consumption culture.” The phenomenon does not only concern tortellini and sausages.

To the contrary: ”We have begun to certify also cosmetics and pharmaceutical enterprises,” said the managing director, ”a sector which is growing internationally by 30%, double that of halal food.”

Pakistan: Belgium can provide technical, financial support

salama — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:23:49 +0000

Staff Report

KARACHI: Belgium is Pakistan’s 4th largest trading partner in Europe despite the fact that there exists tremendous potential but the same has not been expedited to its fullest extent.

Tariq Iqbal Puri, Chief Executive Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) while meeting with Michel Kempeneers, Director, Asia-Pacific Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), Belgium asked him for Belgium’s technical and financial support in the areas of meat, pharmaceuticals, corporate agriculture and halal food meat certification and logistic etc.

He requested for Belgium’s support in enhancing meat production capacity as per international standards. He sought the help of Belgium in lifting ban on Pakistani seafood exports to the EU.

Kempeneers said several Belgium companies specifically from Wallon Region are interested in establishing partnership with leading Pakistani companies in the field of baby cereals,speareadable butter, livestock, waste management, hatcheries and medical sector, ports and shipping and aeronautical sector.

Chief Executive assured him of TDAP’s full support and asked Kempeneers to identify important international events for pharmaceutical products, for participation by Pakistani companies and exploring joint venture possibilities.

He also invited a delegation from Belgium to attend Expo Pakistan October 2011 and emphasised both TPO may consider entering into an MoU for enhancing bilateral trade.

Two Malaysian Firms Set To Establish Strong Foothold In The Netherlands

hamid — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:00:21 +0000

By Dalila Abu Bakar
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama)

Dewina Food Industries Sdn Bhd, popular with Halal food brand “Brahim’s” and green IT solutions provider, Basis Bay Group, have decided to expand their business operations to that European nation. Project Manager at Kuala Lumpur-based Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency Agnes Seah said the agency had assisted the firms to realise their ventures in the Netherlands.

Dewina, a pioneer in the manufacturing of premium quality convenience food in retort pouches, is looking at plans to further tap the European halal market and the Netherlands is likely to be its gateway into Europe.

Seah said Dewina, which already had a brand presence in Europe, was considering a possible entry strategy to capture a share of the halal market in Europe by setting up an eatery or a fast-food outlet to cater to the local population and transit passengers, going beyond distribution of sauces, pastes and meals.

“Several choices of locations are still being studied, with the most likely option being Amsterdam,” she told BERNAMA. The outlet will be Dewina’s first venture into the restaurant business.

Dewina plans to invest a sizeable amount spread over three to five years.

The Netherlands Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Jan A. Soer said the Port of Rotterdam was the only port in Europe with halal certification.

“The Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam is a major transit hub, particularly for passengers travelling between Europe and the Middle East,” said Soer.

The Netherlands Embassy Head of Section (Trade and Economic Relations) Bart Beltman said there were about 30 million Muslims in Europe, of whom one million resided in the Netherlands and there was also a growing number of non-Muslims who preferred halal food.

Meanwhile, Basis Bay, a leader in Green IT services and Green data centres in Asia, is looking at leveraging on Amsterdam’s strategic positioning to seek business opportunities in Europe.

It is also looking to the Netherlands for mergers and acquisitions and business partnerships to gain a presence in the Dutch market.

Seah said the company was still considering options in terms of location and choice of business partners. Major companies that have established green data centres in the country include Hitachi Europe and SmartDC.

The Netherlands also has Netherlands Internet Exchange (NL-ix) hub, one of the world’s largest public Internet exchanges with over 270 members and coverage in more than 30 data centres.

NL-ix provides a high-grade platform and solutions to exchange and transport traffic including Peering, Community specific services, capacity and BandMarket service access and service distribution.

A recent survey by Akamai showed the Netherlands has the fastest Internet connection in Europe.

“Basis Bay’s reason for the selection of The Netherlands is its human capital. The country has a skilled, multi-lingual workforce, which the IT solutions provider can tap on. This makes for improved cross-sharing of knowledge, a world-class workforce and other “soft skills” advantages,” Seah said.

Soer said about 100 Dutch companies had offices or were represented in Malaysia and among them were TNT, ING, Shell, Philipps, Akzo Nobel and KLM.

There are 1,400 Dutch living in Malaysia and about 100,000 Dutch tourists visit Malaysia annually.

Beltman said Malaysia and the Netherlands had strong economic relations with the latter being Malaysia’s 13th largest trading partner last year.

He said Malaysia’s exports to the Netherlands increased to RM20.2 billion last year from RM18.4 billion in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ exports to Malaysia was RM3.4 billion last year vis-a-vis RM3.5 billion in 2009.

The Netherlands is the seventh largest foreign investor in Malaysia last year and direct investments from the Netherlands in Malaysia doubled to about RM1 billion in 2010.