In protest of caricatures of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) published in a Danish newspaper in September 2005, supermarkets across the Gulf had removed Danish products from their shelves. Between February to June 2006, Danish exports to the Middle East whittled down by half, with a $170 million financial blow to the country’s businesses. 

Muslims, a consumer powerhouse of more than two billion people worldwide, make up around a quarter of the world’s population. Voracious in numbers and significant in purchasing power, they have a considerable gravitational pull on the world’s brands and products. 

“The halal ethical economy's leverage itself is significant. As per DinarStandard's 2022 data, given an annual halal consumer spend of $2.1 trillion with a strong global supply chain, the potential for economic leverage is significant,” explains Shikoh. 

Meanwhile, consumers also need to have a collective, credible response to realize the potential of their economic purchasing power leverage, he adds. “Organic, social media led campaigns to support positive brands need to be backed by some level of coordination and credible reporting.”

Halal brands to take centre stage
While the current conflict calls for solidarity on national, societal, and individual levels, it tacitly ushers in a torrent of opportunity for Muslim entrepreneurs and business owners to launch new or leverage existing F&B, cosmetics and pharma brands that resonate with Muslims (and non-Muslims) on a global scale. 

While several successful halal brands do exist, there is no denying the crater of opportunity that awaits to be filled with more businesses and products that can build on the changing tide on consumer preferences. 

Recently, Brazilian food processor BRF formalized a joint venture with the Halal Products Development Company (HPDC), a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). This venture aims to bolster the halal meat industry in Saudi Arabia. The country is also seeking to diversify its food product exports to the world's 57 Muslim-majority nations and Islamic communities in other regions.

Broader impact

Beyond trade, the BRICS expansion is likely to foster increased investment and collaboration in research and development within the halal industry among its member nations.

While some major halal industry hubs such as Indonesia and Turkey have not yet joined BRICS Plus, according to Murphy, there is an expectation of heightened tourism between these nations, particularly due to improving relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The admission of these new countries into the BRICS group, Murphy says, is vital for the strategic rebalancing of the global geopolitical landscape, promoting a more multilateral global governance architecture.

"While it may not have an immediate, observable impact on individual consumer preferences for halal products, it is expected to diversify the range of products available from India and China compared to traditional Western, Japanese, and Korean products."

"The four Muslim countries that already have trade relations with BRICS countries may discover new opportunities to expand their product exports to this large consumer market of three billion people," Murphy added.

“It would be helpful if all meat was labelled pre-stunned or not so people can make informed choices,” Nick Palmer, head of Compassion in World Farming UK, an animal welfare campaign and lobbying group, told Salaam Gateway.

He said it was undesirable for non-pre-stunned meat to be accidentally purchased by consumers who preferred to avoid it.

His comments come as the labelling issue was raised in the European Parliament. In a written parliamentary question, Greek European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) MEP Emmanouil Fragkos asked about the “increasing number of Islamic butchers selling halal meat” in Greece. He claimed “Christians living in largely or primarily Muslim communities within which Islamic butchers operate, unfortunately find themselves obliged to consume halal meat against their will”.

However, there was no European Union (EU) legislation on meat labelling corresponding to religious practices to avoid this situation, a European Commission official told Salaam Gateway. EU member state regulators, religious authorities and non-governmental organisations have competence in this matter.

The official said it was up to consumers to decide whether or not they wanted to consume halal or non-halal food.

Palmer told Salaam Gateway the issue for animal welfare was not really halal meat, but meat from properly stunned animals. There was no animal welfare-related reason to object to halal if pre-stunning had happened, as was often the case.

However, Brussels still allowed slaughter without stunning, justified under the EU 2009 Council regulation on the protection of animals at the time of killing. This accommodated religious slaughter in slaughterhouses.

Fragkos said despite mounting pressure to stop this practice, on 18 June the Brussels regional parliament voted against a bill to ban halal and kosher slaughter in the Belgian capital. Slaughter without stunning was banned in the Belgian provinces Wallonia and Flanders in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Palmer said a butcher deciding to only sell meat from pre-stunned animals may gain customers concerned about the issue while losing others. However, he had not heard that butchers found the issue unmanageable.

“Some will choose to sell all kinds of meat; others will specialise either for ethical or religious reasons, or simply a commercial judgement that one market is more profitable. As for consumers, many simply want the nearest convenient and affordable food,” he said.

He said typically religion did not enter people’s thoughts when deciding what to have for a family meal, and there would be crossover with some Muslims buying non-halal and some non-Muslims buying halal.

“However, an increasing number of consumers from all religions want to feel the animals have been treated well, including minimising suffering at slaughter, and the large quantity of halal meat coming from pre-stunned animals perhaps reflects that preference,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Salah Eldin, halal administrator at the Brussels-based Halal Federation of Belgium (HFB), said more butchers selling halal meat should not be an issue for Christians and non-Muslims.

The matter only affected a small number of customers and would not influence the market, he told Salaam Gateway. Belgium Muslims account for less than 500,000 people out of the country’s 11.6 million population and 10% of the EU and eastern Europe populations.

According to data from USA-based think tank Pew Research Centre cited by worldatlas.com, among the Western European countries, France (7.5%), Netherlands (6%) and Belgium (5.9%) had the greatest share of Muslims in their population in 2010.

However, neither EU statistical office Eurostat nor market researcher Euromonitor International possess figures on the proportion of halal meat sold in Europe, but Euromonitor figures show meat consumption (and thus the amount of halal meat sold) varies significantly country by country.

France consumes 824,200 tonnes of beef and veal and 85,400 tonnes of lamb, mutton and goat and Italy (725,700 tonnes of beef and veal and 54,200 tonnes of lamb, mutton and goat), effectively topping the table.

Eldin insisted halal was “a quality label and quality concept” and large French families often tried halal butchers, for poultry predominantly, as the meat was cheaper. Once discovering the quality, they remained with halal.

He said studies by the University of Ghent have argued stunning was not the main animal welfare concern, taking account of an animal or bird’s entire life. An older paper emphasised that Muslims bought meat considering all aspects of animal welfare and health.

Halal-slaughtered animals must have been fed a natural diet containing no animal by-products; properly transported to the slaughterhouse and slaughtered on their own.

“It is a ‘farm to fork’ issue,” he told Salaam Gateway, claiming non-halal meat was often slaughtered in industrial conditions by commercial businesses.

He agreed labelling and standards were essential to stop consumer confusion when buying meat. Halal meat should carry a halal certificate showing the animal had been slaughtered using a sharp knife and had lived according to halal conditions.

“We are working with the EU and animal rights groups like GAIA (Belgium-based Global Action in the Interest of Animals) to ensure proper halal standards.”

Eldin argued Muslims were not obliged to eat halal, but health-wise it was better for them.

Meanwhile the popularity of halal meat was undeniable and Brussels boasted not only halal butchers, but also halal pizzerias and snack bars.

Islamic butchers Boucherie Nassiri in Forest (or Vorst in Dutch), Brussels, told Salaam Gateway his meat carried no official certificate, but “everyone knows the meat is halal” as it is written on the shop sign (in Arabic) on the door.

“We also have halal meat written on our bills,” he said, adding his customers are both Muslims and non-Muslims.

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Cultured meat (also known as laboratorial-grown or cultivated meat) is typically produced by harvesting cells from a living animal and cultivating them outside the animal’s body using tissue engineering and cellular agriculture to form cuts of meat. Therein lies the rub in halal terms – as permissible, or halal, meat should be derived from slaughtering a healthy animal through a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe followed by all the blood being drained from the carcass.

These rules have been the subject of debate for livestock, including discussions over pre-stunning, so it is no surprise the debate on halal cultured meat is quite robust. Nevertheless, the cultured meat industry hopes its products can be recognised as halal and thus seize a piece of the huge halal food market. There are currently more than 2 billion Muslims and the US-based World Population Review expects Islam to become the world’s largest religion by 2050.

Even without halal certification, the global cultured meat market is poised for growth. It is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% by 2030, delivering revenue of $499.9 million (2021: $133.4 million), according to data from New York-based Polaris Market Research. German business statistical service Statista predicts cultured meat will hold 30% of the meat market share by 2040.

Although the first cultured meat product was a beef burger (unveiled in 2013), the poultry segment is projected to account for the market’s largest share moving forward. American consultancy firm MarketsandMarkets attributes this to “the growing popularity of poultry products in quick-service restaurants”.

Pending market approvals, North America (with 3.45 million Muslims in the US alone) is expected to be the largest regional market for cultured meat due to the “increasing adoption of an on-the-go lifestyle and consumption of snacking products”.

However, Statista believes China will overtake the continent in sales by 2026. According to the World Population Review, the country has 28 million Muslims.

Since 2013 the industry has grown to more than 60 companies, backed by over $450 million in investments, according to data from US-based non-profit organisation Good Food Institute. This has been driven by an uptick in environmental concern globally and evidence showing the impact of meat consumption.

Cultured meat can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 96% according to a study by Oxford University and, with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation predicting global meat consumption will rise over 70% by 2050, many cultured meat producers are stepping up their efforts – including in Muslim countries.

Following the first sale of its cultured chicken, in Singapore in December 2020, a country that is 15.6% Muslim, US-based food technology company Eat Just Inc announced last August it would build a Qatar-based cultured meat production facility. This would include production for its Good Meat brand and plant-based egg division Just Egg.

The company said the Qatar Free Zones Authority and ministry of public health had indicated their intention to grant regulatory approval for Good Meat-cultivated chicken “very soon”, but it did not mention halal status.

In its statement, Good Meat said it was “exploring the possibility of halal certification” and would work closely with the religious authorities given slaughter-free, cultivated meat was “very novel”.

In the academic paper Cultured Meat in Islamic Perspective published in the Journal of Religion and Health, Mohammad Naqib Hamdan and his co-authors argue classical jurists (fuqaha) have never seriously discussed cultured meat as it was a new discovery. This meant “an ijtihad (independent reasoning) by contemporary jurists must look for and provide answers” on whether or not cultured meat could be halal.

Mian N Riaz, associate department head and holder of professorship in food diversity at Texas A&M University, argued cultured meat may be considered halal if stem cells were obtained from an animal slaughtered in line with halal regulations and the culture medium was free of animal extracts such as blood or serum.

“However, according to some Muslim scholars, the process of clean (cultured) meat production violates the natural law, which can be perceived as ‘playing God’ and resulted in some suggesting the banning of cultured meat production,” he said.

With no set guidelines, many Islamic organisations will look to each other for decision-making. Last September Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, said cultured meat derived from live animals is not halal. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country.

Similarly, scholars in Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim country, have argued only cultured meat made using cells from halal-slaughtered animals can be regarded halal.

“As it is such as massive market, what Indonesia decides is very significant,” said Lucia Vancura, director of global markets at Japan-based Meros Consulting.

Riaz added that even if cultured meat was halal certified, producers had to overcome cultural barriers in making sales. Noreen Hobayan, director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs at US-based producer of cell-cultured seafood BlueNalu, agreed, noting devout consumers would first look to their religious leaders first.

However, if the factory-to-table barriers can be overcome, potential was high.

“If the religious authorities do consider cultivated meat halal, we expect a strong demand across the Islamic world for meat made in this new way,” said Carlotte Lucas, corporate engagement manager at Good Food Institute Europe.

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A new halal logo launched by the Indonesian religious affairs ministry in March is a case in point with many saying it is hard to understand. Critics say the word “halal” in the new logo is hard to identify, because it is represented through stylised calligraphy, while its predecessor simply contained the word in Arabic, in green on a white background, like those found in most countries.

The new symbol was designed to recall a gunungan symbol used in the Javanese shadow puppet theatre to help audiences understand the play’s direction. However, critics have called its use in the logo “Javacentric”, deferring to Indonesia’s dominant ethnic group accounting for around 40% of the population.

Indonesia’s new halal logo halal certification label.

“We don’t think it’s a problem how it looks – it’s just a label – but we have listened to inputs from many parties including branding experts,” said Mastuki, head of the Centre for Halal Registration and Certification at the Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency (BPJPH - Badan Penanggulangan Jaminan Produk Hala).

“We’ve done our research on halal logos around the world. We wanted the new logo to reflect an Indonesian identity,” Mastuki, who like many Indonesians uses just one name, told Salaam Gateway. “The shadow puppet is an Indonesian identity, not just Javanese and it’s our cultural heritage.”

Mastuki said the new logo took effect on 1 March, but products could still use the old logo for another five years. This is particularly relevant in Indonesia, as the Halal Product Assurance Law (Undang-Undang Jaminan Produk Halal), passed in 2014, stipulates effective October 2019, products such as food, cosmetics and medicines must undergo a certification process into whether or not they are halal, thus permissible under Islamic law, and labelled accordingly.

Tulus Abadi, the head of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation, said the new logo was “not informative”.

“(It) is extremely different from the old one. Its colour and design are a departure from commonly recognised halal logos,” he told Salaam Gateway, adding this could cause confusion as a common feature was needed for consumers to recognise a halal logo.

Indonesian graphic designer @NeoNetizen was unimpressed and in March tweeted: “Russia’s halal logo doesn’t feature a bear, Korea’s doesn’t feature K-pop, Rome’s doesn’t feature Roman script. Why does Indonesia’s feature ‘wayang gunungan’?”

The same question might be asked of the Muslim Professional Japan Association (MPJA), whose logo features a snow-tipped black Mount Fuji against a red background.
 

The MPJA's website explains the association's logo - 1. Mount Fuji with a white-colored peak in the centre of the logo. 2. The Arabic word ‘Halal’ at the centre of the logo. 3. The oval logo contains the word “Muslim Professional Japan Association” and “Halal For All MPJA”. 4. One small five-pointed stars placed at the bottom of the logo to separate the “moto” and “MPJA” word.

Global halal logo trends

There are more than 100 halal certification logos worldwide – one for each certification body whose auditors ensure the products bearing their labels truly comply with Islamic production principles. The majority of halal certification bodies are private, although in Muslim-majority countries many are often affiliated to the state or government run. While many are for food and drink products, some halal certification bodies, such as the Dublin, Ireland-based Department of Halal Certification Europe (DHCE), also certify cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.

“Every halal certification body has its own reputation and credibility globally. There is no uniform logo. There should be ideally, but this would require a global halal standard, which there is not, said Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, quality control director for the DHCE.

Most logos feature either (or both) the Arabic and Romanised wording for “halal”. Having the Arabic means “straight away you see products are halal,” said Shaykh Al-Qadri.

He added while the DHCE name provided credibility to a halal certification, they were not focused on standing out from competitors.

Unsurprisingly, most halal logos are at least partially green with UK-based DHCE auditor Mohammed Masood Abid telling Salaam Gateway “green is the colour of Islam”.

Department of Halal Certification Europe.

According to Egypt’s primary Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta, green symbolises prosperity and a good life and is mentioned in the Quran as “the colour of the garments and cushions of the people of paradise”.

In Europe, blue is another choice as it reflects the European Union’s blue flag with gold stars. Both the Halal Food Council of Europe (HFCE) and EuroHalal logos feature blue lettering on a white background.

Most Muslim countries also have regulatory standards on logo use and halal certification, notably the Malaysian Standard on Halal Food (MS 1500:2009), the Singapore Muis Halal Standards (SMHS) and the Pakistan Standard for Halal Food Management System (PS 3733:2019).

Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM)

Malaysia

Malaysia’s official halal logo is designed to be internationally recognisable and indicates a product or business has been certified halal by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM – Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia). Introduced in 2003, the current logo is a circle with the Arabic for halal in the centre and rung by the word “Malaysia” to streamline its authenticity, rather than JAKIM that international consumers may not know or understand.

Within the circle, two stars with five vertices on the left and right separate the words Malaysia and 'ماليزيا' - Malaysia in Arabic. Below the circle, two lines can be inserted indicating the relevant Malaysian standards for halal certification, for example MS1500:2009 refers to its halal food standard.

The line below shows a product’s unique number linked to an application for authorisation from JAKIM. This logo replaced an older version where halal was written in green and in Arabic, encapsulated in a circle.

Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality.

Egypt

In Egypt, designers have plumped for a more figurative design for the mark used by the ministry of trade and industry’s Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality (EOS) responsible for issuing licenses of halal certification. The logo features the word “halal” in Arabic, artistically drawn in the shape of a mosque that includes a minaret topped with a crescent moon.

The artwork sits inside an eight-pointed star that can be found on several emblems and flags of Muslim countries and is ingrained in Islamic art and architecture, according to Teik-Cheng Lim, associate professor at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

The halal mark is only issued for products destined for export outside Egypt with everything sold domestically deemed halal by default. Hence, the country’s name in English is clearly included in the design.

In its conditions for using the halal mark, the EOS states the logo can be used in advertisements for an associated halal-certified product, but cannot be used on office walls, cargo trucks or company documents. It also cannot be used in a size smaller than 1cm2.

Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology (EMSA).

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) is responsible for issuing halal certification and the Halal National Mark (HNM). ESMA’s mark is the only halal logo allowed to be used in the UAE and is recognised in all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as Malaysia.

The UAE Halal National Mark design is simple and features the distinctive crescent moon, in an orange polka dot format, an internationally-recognised symbol of Islam, encompassing the word “halal” in English and Arabic. It does not denote the UAE as the origin of exported products.

International Halal Certification Ltd (IHC).

Pakistan

The International Halal Certification Ltd (IHC), an agency accredited by the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), issues halal certification and halal marks for companies globally. Like ESMA’s halal national mark, the IHC also uses a crescent moon in its design with an affirmative check mark to denote quality assurance. “International Halal Certification” is fully typed out in Arabic and English to show the IHC’s global scope and halal appears in a red font to stand out from the rest of the text.
 

Halal Research Council.

Lahore, Pakistan-based Halal Research Council chief executive officer Muhammad Zubair Mughal agreed a logo should be clear and easy to understand.

However, he is concerned that around 80% of global halal logos use Arabic, a problem given many Muslim consumers cannot read Arabic – especially in Latin America and Europe. He argued the ideal strategy would be to use the local and Arabic languages in the logo – the Halal Research Council logo uses Arabic and English, which is co-official with Urdu in Pakistan.

American Halal Foundation.

USA

Mohammad A Hussaini, vice president at the American Halal Foundation (AHF) in Bolingbrook, Illinois, believes many halal logos are too complicated. This includes the AHF’s old logo that displayed an H inside a star, inside a black square, inside a circle of words.

The new logo is simpler – an H inside a traditional eight-pointed star in black or green. As well as looking cleaner, he said it met the organisation’s goal of being immediately recognisable to consumers.

“It has an Arabic element (the star) to show the traditional heritage. We pay homage to that.”

The design also pays attention to producers’ needs, he added. “When you have a brand, you want that brand to be full front and centre. The logo disc is simple, not drawing attention away from brand.”

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) also takes producers’ needs into account with its logo, said Muhammad Munir Chaudry, the organisation’s president. It offers variations on the logo to accommodate different packaging sizes.

The heart of the IFANCA logo is the Islamic symbol crescent moon, but Chaudry said it was designed not to appeal exclusively to Muslims.

“When you put more words in, you make it narrow. Halal is good for you. We look at how it is produced; that it has good manufacturing practices (and) no harmful ingredients. Halal is for all.”

Halal Certification Organisation (HCO).

UK

According to Amer Rashid, technical director at Birmingham, England-based Halal Certification Organisation (HCO), the ideal halal logo design should be simple with a clear message. The logo has three main purposes: a simple and recognisable form; proving the product is halal certified and showing which organisation had certified the product.

Accordingly, he said the HCO logo clearly states the organisation’s name and values and includes the words “halal”, “healthy” and “hygienic”

“These are all very important because these things are exactly what a halal product should be,” he said.

Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC).

Nadeem Adam, the operations director of another UK-based halal certifier, the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC), agreed, indicating a halal logo should be simple and clear and the sign uphold halal provenance.

He said although the HMC was globally recognised, its core recognition was in the UK and consequently the organisation had opted for the current design as it encompassed the core value of monitoring.

“This is what HMC does – monitoring the halal supply chain in real-time for meat and poultry products,” he added.

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