Thursday, May 26, 2011

Italy: First ‘Halal’ firm to supply restaurants and canteens

Italy’s first-ever ‘halal’ supplier has opened for business in Italy’s northern city of Bologna, selling meals prepared according to Islamic principles to restaurants and canteens in Italy and abroad.

“Integration is also being able to eat as one should and to be at peace with God,” Hamza Piccardo, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Piccardo, an Italian convert to Islam, is the director of the ‘Tre Alfieri Halal’, which is based in Bologna, a renowned gastronomic centre. “Our new company wants to be a triumph of integration: to combine Italy’s great cuisine and Islam’s rules without losing the flavours of the former and the spiritual rigour of the latter,” he said.

Piccardo believes the company’s ‘halal’ meals, which already include a range of pasta dishes and risottos, will appeal to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Besides restaurants and canteens ‘Tre Alfieri Halal’ will also supply caterers .

“This is a genuine alternative to fast food, which compromises quality and flavour, and to elitist and costly ’slow food’, which is hard to reconcile with the pace of modern living,” Piccardo said.

Ref: http://halalfocus.net/2011/05/21/italy-first-halal-firm-to-supply-restaurants-and-canteens/

Monday, May 16, 2011

Pakistan: MoU signed with Malaysia for meat exports

Lahore - A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Punjab government and Peneng State Government Malaysia regarding cooperation in halal industry at Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Saturday.
Chief Executive Officer Lahore Meat Company Dr Hamid Jalil on behalf of Punjab government and Minister for Religious Affairs and Chairman Halal Industry Development Peneng State Government, Haji Abdul Maalik Qaseem on behalf of Malaysian government signed the MoU. Punj

ab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Minister Agriculture Ahmad Ali Aulakh, Members Provincial Assembly, Chairman Planning & Development, Commissioner Lahore, Chairman Special Initiatives, Vice Chairman Punjab Investment Board and officers concerned were present on the occasion. According to the agreement, Peneng State Government Malaysia will work jointly with Punjab Meat Company for setting up of Halal Industrial park in Punjab, training programme, international certification and export of halal products from Pakistan.
Speaking on this occasion, the CM said Malaysia was a brotherly Islamic country and the agreement between Peneng State Government Malaysia and Punjab government with regard to promotion of halal industry was a good omen. He said there was a big scope of exporting halal meat from Punjab to international market and Punjab government was taking solid steps in that regard. He said a state-of-the-art slaughter house was also being established in Lahore with the cooperation of Iran whereas for the first time in the history of the country, halal meat had been exported to Malaysia. “The Punjab government is also working on the project of certification of halal meat so that it could be exported to Middle East, Malaysia and other countries from Punjab as per international standard,” he said, adding that the government would work for the uplift of halal meat industry with the cooperation of Peneng State Government, Malaysia, and directed Dr. Hamid Jalil to take further steps in that regard.
Ref: http://halalfocus.net/2011/05/15/pakistan-mou-signed-with-malaysia-for-meat-exports/

Pakistan can help China tap over a trillion dollar Halal Food Market

Islamabad: A top official has said that China is developing one of the biggest economic zones in the world which will also benefit Pakistan’s economy.

Deputy DG of Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Muhametmin Yashen (Muhammad Amin Yasin) said this while speaking to business community at the residence of Raza Khan, Chairman Coordination FPCCI.

Yashen said that in west we have economic powerhouse like Shenzhen and in east we have Kashi (Kashgar) Special Economic Zone in just few hundred kilometres from Pakistan’s border.

Flanked with Deputy Chief of Mission, Chinese Embassy Huang Xilian and other officials, he said that they are organising first ever China Asia-Europe Expo in Urumqi scheduled Sept 1-5. He called upon business community to participate in the fair.

Yashen, who is leading a 50-member delegation, said that Kashi economic zone will bring prosperity to the whole region while expo will provide an interaction opportunity.

At the occasion Raza Khan said Chinese investors should explore opportunities in sectors like finance, banking, power, alternative energy, IT, engineering goods, textile machinery, agriculture, agro-based industry, food, fruit processing, packaging, livestock, dairy farming and real estate sectors. He said that Pakistan can help China in its plans to tap the vast potential of export market of Islamic countries.

Raza Khan demanded special packages and incentives for Pakistani business community in the Kashi Special Economic Zone.

Ref: http://halalfocus.net/2011/05/13/pakistan-can-help-china-tap-over-a-trillion-dollar-halal-food-market/