THE GLOBAL HALAL ALLIANCE PIONEERING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GLOBAL HALAL ECONOMY
THE GLOBAL HALAL ALLIANCE: PIONEERING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GLOBAL HALAL ECONOMY
Global players with a proven track record providing best-in-class domain expertise in the Halal ecosystem have come together today to exchange Heads of Agreements, launching the Global Halal Alliance. This is the first-of-its-kind collaboration in the world involving all sectors of the Halal Value Chain. Such integrated expertise is required for the successful development of the global Halal economy, estimated at US$1,128 billion of food sector expenditure alone in 2014, with 5.8% CAGR (1), driven by young, growing and increasingly wealthy demographics.
Partners in the Alliance include Iskandar Regional Development Authority of the government of Malaysia, AsureQuality Limited of the government of New Zealand, Surbana Jurong Private Limited of Singapore, the International Halal Labuan Foundation, the State of Johor Islamic Religious Council, and the HALTEX Group.
Working collaboratively, coordinating and leveraging their strengths and collective depth of knowledge, the Alliance will execute comprehensive solutions for the sustainable development of the global Halal economy. The Alliance covers the following core areas of the Halal Ecosystem:
- Methodologies for Food Safety in Halal;
- Halal and Food Safety Verification and Auditor Training;
- Production, Processing and Distribution Infrastructure that are Halal and Food Safety secured;
- Systems for Verification, Tracking, Traceability and Authentication of Halal, Food Safety and Wholesome products;
- Global Market Access through a secured Trade Platform for Qualified Products;
- Islamic Finance for Trade and Investments;
- Community Engagement platform for Halal Regulators worldwide;
- Community Engagement platform for Halal Food Producers worldwide.
With consumers globally demanding an assurance of safe and wholesome foods which can be tracked in a transparent and traceable manner throughout the sourcing, production and distribution chain, challenges need to be overcome and solutions found for a complex set of issues:
- Heightened risks to the integrity of the food supply chain due to the globalization of food sourcing, production and distribution;
- Rising standards of halal and food safety regulations and standards by governments to protect their food supply create economic sustainability problems for producers, and especially SMEs;
- Varying and newly developing laboratory testing frameworks for food health;
- Advances in Food Science resulting in new food technologies and quantification of hazards;
- Varying criteria for Halal Certification by government associated organizations, national standards bodies and independent private Halal certification bodies; and
- Empowerment of consumers through social media and mobile technologies which make information on wholesome foods and alerts on any compromise in the integrity of the food value chain instantly accessible.
The Global Halal Alliance provides sustainable solutions and infrastructure for the stakeholders of the Halal Economy – governments, businesses, regulators and consumers. Its raison d’être is to safeguard trust and provide assurance of Halal, Safe and Wholesome products for global consumers.
“It is Clean. It is Healthy. It is Safe. It is Halal”
Source: Thomson Reuters “State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2015/16”).
