LAHORE: UNIVERSITY of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha has said UVAS and the Punjab Halal Development Agency (PHDA) are jointly organising “3rd International Halal Conference and Expo 2014” at the International Expo Centre Lahore on 22-23 May, 2014.
Addressing a press brief in this regard on Thursday, the VC said the objective of the conference and expo was to introduce Pakistan Halal products to the international markets and conduct a technical training of professional human resource working in the local Halal industry.
Prof Pasha said Pakistani Halal products were very popular in their taste and quality across the world but their marketing and branding were not being done properly. He said the conference being arranged in collaboration with the Halal Research Council, USAID-TAP, Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company and Livestock and Dairy Development Department Punjab would help provide Pakistani Halal products access to the world markets. He said over 30 international meat importers from various countries, including The United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain were expected to participate in the conference and expo.
Vice Chancellor Prof Pasha said the conference would be a best opportunity to introduce Pakistan Halal products to the international participants and consequently to the international markets.
He said a one-day workshop would also be arranged in which halal value chain experts would present their research papers. He said UVAS was producing professionals direly needed in the Halal industry. With special reference to meat, UVAS has recently established the Department of Meat Science and Technology to cater to the needs of industry in the area of modern meat processing and hygiene.
He also said the lack of worker’s skills was a constraint to produce valuable quality cuts for current and future markets.
In future, the Vice-Chancellor said development of skilled manpower was going to be a continuous challenge, requiring a multifarious approach to deal with.
“UVAS realised this challenge and started a three-tier meat industry-training programme for managers, supervisors and workers in cooperation with TAP-ASF USAID.” In this programme, mangers and supervisors from leading processors and exporters were trained as per international processing and hygiene standards. He said UVAS had also established a meat-processing lab where a series of advanced level trainings on meat processing and value addition would be executed in the future. He said UVAS had certified food microbiology, pathology and quality operations labs equipped with most modern technologies, which would play an active role in the capacity building of Halal meat industry.
To a question, Prof Pasha said India was the second largest Halal meat exporter in the world. To another question, UVAS VC said poultry meat was safe and there was a need to address misconception about the same.
