Al Islami Foods launches ‘100 Schools Health Awareness Drive’

DUBAI – As part of the corporate social
responsibility programme for the education sector, Al Islami Foods, a
leading halal food producer in the Middle East, today launched the ‘100
Schools Health Awareness Drive’ across the UAE to combat the growing
obesity and diabetes.
 
According to the WHO’s Global School
Health Survey in 2005, over 12.1 per cent of UAE children are obese and
over 20 per cent are at risk. Until now in 2009, the obese percentage
has grown double. The organisation also reported UAE amongst the most
obese nations in the world and ranks 10th in the list of overweight
countries.

The situation is alarming. Al Islami will organise
educational sessions for 100 schools across the UAE to educate students
how to tackle these hazards through the power of knowledge about
hygience, quality and the real halal. Saleh Abdullah Lootah, the Chief
Executive Officer at Al Islami Foods, while commenting on the
importance of the educational CSR initiatives targeting health issues,
said: “In today’s highly learned environment, students are the most
valuable assests of society as they are custodians of future. That is
the reason we are focusing the education sector, which is the right
platform to create public awarness.”

Al Islami, with its real
halal process, ensures the food developed at Al Islami is healthy,
highly hygenic and of good quality. Besides dramatic growth of the
halal food market, Al Islami stresses on to correctly define and
educate the public about the ‘Real Halal’, on which the company is the
among the pioneers in the world. 

The essentials for being
authentic halal are: animal raised on natural, healthy and halal feed,
animals are physically fit, hand-slaughtered by a Muslim, no stunning
of any kind, reciting Allahu Akbar (Allah is great) while slaughtering.
With the kick off awareness drive, the first batch of 36 students from
Nibras International School Dubai along with teachers last week were
invited to the main production unit of Al Islami in Jebel Ali. The
students went through an education session of the phases of food
production, halal, hygiene and quality.