Biggest non-OIC halal exporters set their own standards

London-based Tahira Foods leaves nothing to chance when it comes to ensuring its products are halal.

From the use of a coding system to guarantee the halal status of raw ingredients to the ritual cleaning of machinery, it covers every step of the process.

At its plants–and it has three across Europe in France, the Netherlands and the UK–World Islamic Foundation–approved inspectors oversee all aspects of production, including the slaughter, processing and packing phases.

All final products are also coded to ensure that they are genuinely halal. But it does not legally have to do any of this. In Europe, where it operates, there is no central body to oversee halal production.

“Every company and every brand uses its own system,” says Mazen Kahel, managing director of Tahira Foods.

“That’s not good because people stamp ‘halal’ on the box but the final product in the box is not halal. This affects the trust of customers.”

Spain became the first European nation to establish a technical committee on standardization to regulate the halal market in 2013, but it is not the only non-Muslim country to set standards for halal production.

New Zealand, which exported $536 million worth of red meat in 2013-14 to Muslim countries, became the first to implement a notice to govern halal processing in 2010, setting standards in place that halal exporters must meet.

In Brazil, one of the world’s largest halal exporters, which exported $1.5 billion worth of halal products in 2012 and a record 17 million tons of food to Arab countries in 2013, the Federal Inspection Services of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply monitors the production of halal. Brazilian companies that export products to Muslim countries must present a certificate to prove that they are halal at the time of shipment.

And in Australia, where the halal export industry is worth $1.4 billion, any product described as “halal” for export must be certified under a special program called the Australian Government Authorised Halal Program.

In Canada, where the halal market is worth $1 billion annually, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency oversees animal-slaughter regulations. As of next year, halal goods must also include the name of the certifying body. Its neighbor, the United States, also regulates production by monitoring halal-approved facilities and inspecting halal exporters.

Muslims buying meat from countries where the government oversees the production can be sure it is halal, but many would rather see an international standard in place, which is something Dubai, which aims to be the world’s leading halal hub, aims to provide.

It has held talks with Malaysia, currently the largest halal hub, to decide on a mutually acceptable standard.

For people working in the industry, like Tahira’s Kahel, that can only be a good thing.

“To gain the trust of people is very important. It will grow more and push the halal market,” he says.