Forging the halal MRE: How IFANCA helped redefine military and humanitarian food systems

The true test of any thriving society is its impartial treatment of all who call it home and its ability to evolve and adapt over time in line with the needs of its people. Sometimes, these needs can be as mundane as everyday feeding decisions, which, under extreme situations, can require breakthrough solutions. 

In war zones and disaster areas, food can become a serious problem for Muslim soldiers and refugees. The US Military's packaged, ready-to-eat meals (MREs) were a huge success when they were first introduced during the Second World War. They were built to last a long time without going bad.

But as more people of different faiths, specifically Muslims, joined the armed forces, the question of a lack of halal-certified meat or chicken options in the standard MREs became an issue.
 

The US military tried to fix this by offering "pork-free" versions, thinking that would solve the problem. But it didn't because the underlying issues weren't being addressed. Even the vegetarian meals caused issues, because they contained ingredients that Muslims aren't allowed to eat — things like additives made from animals, artificial flavors with questionable sources, and food made in facilities where everything gets mixed together.

For Muslim service members, refugees, and people of faith, every meal became a difficult choice between staying fed and staying true to their beliefs. In the past, Muslims stuck in these tough situations could fall back on an Islamic rule called Darurah, which basically means "extreme necessity." This rule allows a Muslim to eat forbidden food if they are literally in danger of starving. 

But the rule was meant for extreme situations and raised another dilemma: should a soldier or anyone serving their country, or a person fleeing a disaster, really have to break their religious rules just to survive? Or go without food for a long time?

The answer was clearly no. It was obvious that the rule of Darurah wasn't a permanent solution. For a long-term solution, there had to be a way to create a proper, fully certified halal meal that could survive on a battlefield or in a disaster zone. And once that was achieved, then to convince the government to buy and use it.

This was too big a goal for any single entity or individual to achieve on its own. It took a historic team effort between a forward-thinking food entrepreneur, My Own Meals, Inc. (MOM), and a religious and scientific organization, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).
 

A bold idea: Mary Anne Jackson and ‘My Own Meals’

Military labs are all about finding quick stop-gap solutions; they don't have the bandwidth or the deep technical knowledge that is required to formulate a solution for a halal MRE. Instead, it was the foresight and enterprise of a regular civilian businesswoman. In the 1980s, Mary Anne Jackson, who had previously worked as a senior food industry executive, started a company called My Own Meals, Inc. (MOM), along with its halal division, J&M Food Products Company.

Jackson was ahead of her time. She adopted technology used by the US military — a process in which food is sealed in flexible foil pouches and cooked under high pressure so it lasts for years without needing a fridge — and applied it to create everyday meals for consumers. Over time, she added foil pouches and individual plastic meal trays to her product range. This type of long-lasting, no-fridge-needed meal didn't yet exist in regular American stores, so Jackson had to work hard to convince people that this new packaging was safe to eat.

As conflicts and wars began to escalate in the early 1990s, the US Defense Logistics Agency — the part of the military that handles supplies — was struggling to find enough meals that met religious dietary requirements. Instead of waiting around for the military to lower its standards or force Muslim soldiers to compromise, Jackson decided to act.

She had the vision to understand that real halal food couldn't just be a label slapped on a package — it had to be truly and completely halal, from top to bottom. 

To make something that Muslim soldiers and refugees could eat with full confidence in their faith, she knew she needed expert religious guidance. So she reached out to IFANCA.

The hard part: Making a meal that's both long-lasting and truly halal

While all the pieces were now in place, the partnership between J&M Food Products and IFANCA still faced a massive challenge. Making a halal MRE meant going through every single part of the meal-making process and checking it against Islamic food rules — right down to the tiniest ingredients.

To make a meal that could last five years in extreme conditions like deserts or war zones, IFANCA and Jackson's team had to solve several big problems:

• Getting rid of questionable ingredients: The high-heat cooking process used to preserve MREs destroys many plant-based ingredients, which normally forces manufacturers to use additives derived from animals — such as certain fats, gels, and enzymes. All of these had to be carefully swapped out for plant-based versions or thoroughly checked against synthetic alternatives that could survive the intense heat without breaking down.
   
• Keeping the equipment clean and separate: MREs are made in huge factories that run nonstop. IFANCA, being well aware of the sensitive nature of the task at hand, put strict rules in place to make sure the giant pressure cookers and sealing machines used for halal meals were completely separated from the machines used for non-halal meals. This was to make sure there was zero chance — not even a tiny amount — of cross-contamination or mixing between halal and non-halal food.
   
• Checking everything in the package: IFANCA didn't cut corners or focus only on the big picture by looking at the main meal alone. They checked every single item inside the sealed MRE bag — the drink powders, the small accessory packets, and even the industrial oils used on the packaging machines — to ensure everything met Islamic standards.

A historic achievement

Thanks to Jackson's careful engineering and IFANCA's deep knowledge of Islamic law applied to modern food science, the final result was a historic achievement that cannot be overstated. J&M Food Products successfully created meat-based combat meals that met strict halal slaughter standards, as well as vegetarian meals that earned a rare double certification — both fully halal (certified by IFANCA) and fully kosher at the same time.

This breakthrough changed military food supply worldwide. The US military now had proper, long-lasting halal MREs for Muslim soldiers serving abroad. And beyond the military, these meals set the standard for disaster relief too — whenever a natural disaster or conflict forces Muslim communities from their homes, these fully certified meals can be sent in right away, giving people both the food they need to survive and the peace of mind that comes from knowing their faith is respected.
 

A legacy that goes beyond emergency rules

The story of the halal MRE shows what can happen when a bold business leader and a knowledgeable religious organization work together with purpose. Mary Anne Jackson understood the power of faith and how properly prepared meals can nourish and feed people, bring people together, and make a nation stronger and more united.

So, to achieve her goal, she actively sought out the religious expertise needed to make it something Muslims could truly trust.

Together, MOM and IFANCA proved that Islamic food laws don't have to be a roadblock to modern technology. By cracking the challenge of long-lasting food preservation, they made sure that even in the toughest places on Earth, a Muslim soldier or refugee never has to choose between staying alive and staying true to their faith.