Global Halal Food Standards must be Consistent

Ongoing developments include certification, accreditation and standard setting

Halal food sector across the globe will need to be integrated through uniform standards. This was endorsed by food experts at the 9th Dubai International Food safety conference on Tuesday.

“The halal food sector is poised for significant growth over the next five years. Current estimates suggest that the global halal food segment is worth around $667 billion and accounts for around 20 per cent of the global food trade,” said Khalid Sheriff, director food control department at Dubai Municipality. “Such huge amounts of foods require applying uniform and harmonised standards and regulations.”

Khalid was speaking at the second Halal Food Symposium. He stressed on how the Halal food industry will soon be the turning point in Dubai’s economic development.

“As Dubai aims to be the ‘capital of the Islamic economy’ in two years, many initiatives are being prepared at the federal and local levels to cater for the need to establish laws and regulations related to halal foods.”

The initiatives range from updating existing standards to drafting new ones to fill any legislative gap, and to harmonise regulations globally.

The ongoing developments in the halal food business include certification, accreditation and standard setting.

Representatives of various regulatory and statutory bodies from all around the world, especially Islamic countries and the countries that export foods to Islamic countries were among the participants, in addition to international organizations and private institutions.

Amir Sakic, Halal food expert, Agency for Halal Quality Certification, Islamic Community – Bosnia and Herzegovina, spoke about how to tackle the issues in halal food business, trends and experiences, while Dr Abdallah Belal Adam, Leader of Halal Meat Research Group, University of HAIL- Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, shed light on the halal meat authenticity, new analytic methods in differentiation between halal and non-halal meat.

Source: http://www.emirates247.com/news/global-halal-food-standards-must-be-consistent-2014-11-12-1.569715