The halal revolution

Caterer Middle East editor Lucy Taylor.

There is a revolution going on — a food revolution that is, one that is impacting F&B producers and suppliers around the globe.

Halal foodstuffs are par for the course in the Middle East and in many other countries with a sizeable Muslim population.

But today, with globalisation, more consumers travelling and many more people choosing to live and work abroad, demand for halal products is growing exponentially.

Indeed, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Halal Journal, the global halal food industry is currently worth around US $632 billion per year.

So is this the future — is halal going to continue to grow until it is no longer a regional practice but a standard requirement across the globe?

Taking the booming meat export market as an example, it certainly seems that way — as Country Hill International’s Hamish McKerrow points out.

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“There’s been a dramatic rise in halal meat imports from Australia since 2003, when ‘Mad Cow Disease’ broke out in the US and lot of countries banned US meat. Australia and New Zealand then decided to fill the profile, became well-positioned in the halal market and have continued to grow as halal meat providers ever since.

“Today we’re seeing an increased demand for halal across the globe,” he adds.

Similarly Patricia Fuentes, trade assistant to the Embassy of Chile’s Trade Commission in Dubai, notes that the country’s exporters have seen a “marked increase in demand for high quality meat and poultry”.

Meanwhile Corry de Wit, managing director of the European office for the State of Georgia’s Department of Agriculture, says that the state’s exporters supply halal foodstuffs to countries around the world.

“We are seeing a tendency to more halal food products, in stores, restaurants and fast food chains,” she agrees. “And interestingly, we’re seeing this more and more in Europe.