Halal certified from farm to fork

There can be few deals where the need for Shariah-compliance is more apparent than the one that Japan’s Nippon Express took on in June. The logistics firm signed an agreement with Brahim’s Holdings, a Malaysian halal food producer, covering the delivery of halal airline meals to ANA Catering Services, a subsidiary of Japanese aviation group ANA Holdings.

While halal food is an established part of the global food industry, less attention has been paid to how that food reaches the consumer. When there were procedures in place, they tended to be voluntary. However, the deal between Nippon Express and Brahim’s could be a sign of things to come. Companies are increasingly paying attention to every stage of the halal process. The aim is not just to provide halal food but to ensure it gets “from farm to fork” in a Shariah-compliant way.

CONTAMINATION

Global transport is complex, and many different companies could be handling a product along the supply chain. Different items are often put in shared containers, and it’s not always clear what non-halal products might contaminate halal goods. The more links in a supply chain, the greater the risk for problems.

Malaysia has taken the lead in formalizing a system. The country’s Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) launched its halal logistics standards in July 2013, covering transportation and warehousing. Dr. Harlina Suzana Jaafar, deputy director for halal supply chain at the Malaysia Institute of Transport, part of the Universiti Teknologi Mara near Kuala Lumpur, says that 25 companies have obtained the certification so far.

“The halal logistics industry is still very new compared to other sectors such as the banking and finance sector,” she says. “However, the industry is picking up very fast. Globally, the Muslim population is forecasted to grow at a rate of 1.5 percent annually. It is assumed the increasing number of Muslims will directly cause the demand for halal logistics to grow.”

GOING GLOBAL

The idea has been slowly spreading to other parts of the world. Haji Rafek Saleh, executive director of Malaysia’s International Halal Integrity Alliance, says that it has trained and certified logistics clients in France, the Netherlands, the UAE and Japan, as well as in its home market.

Other standards bodies elsewhere in the world have also developed their own certification plans. Dutch logistics firm Eurofrigo, for example, part of Japan’s Nichireai Corporation, is certified by the Dutch Halal Audit Company (HAC) for the storage of halal products.

COMPLEX

While gaining halal certification is now possible, it is not necessarily easy. Perhaps the biggest issue that transport companies have to deal with is ensuring that halal products are not mixed with haram (forbidden) products in transport or while in storage.

The transport vehicles themselves also need to be cleaned using methods that conform to Shariah, which can add additional costs. Some purists might argue that the companies involved ought to be run as entirely Shariah-compliant enterprises.

For now, such issues mean that the halal logistics sector is still small. However, if it can tap into the same sort of trends as the Islamic finance industry, as some logistics professionals are hoping, then the prospects for growth are attractive. The first step, though, is to raise awareness among consumers.

“The halal market is huge because it concerns each and every product used by Muslims located everywhere in the world,” says Grégory Bajeux, general manager of Global Halal Logistics, a French firm that transports halal products around the world. However, he adds that “the sector is growing slowly” because a lot of consumers still don’t know that the option of halal logistics exists.

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