Food

On Jan 1, 2020, Italy launched an online marketplace for halal products called deenary.com, as the first-ever online marketplace for European Muslims. The platform offers Muslim-oriented products and services. ANSA, the fifth-biggest press agency in the world, already called deenary.com ‘the Amazon of Muslims’, and the main Italian financial newspaper, il Sole 24 Ore, entitled ‘The challenge to Amazon with the Halal product marketplace starts from Bologna’.

The online store, which is modeled on the business structure deployed by Amazon, is entirely targeted at European halal consumers and promoted by Meem Communication, a Milan-based halal market consultancy.

The new platform has the vision to bring global halal products trade at one single online marketplace where the sales and purchase of all halal products are done with one click.

“We aim to be the main partner for the halal industry in Europe, as we are already building a strong network between the stakeholders in the region. Deenary will be the online vehicle to address an ever-growing Muslim population in the continent, which now counts over 30 million citizens” says Yassine Baradai, Deenary.com’s CEO and Meem Communication’s founder.

Deenary offers a stock hub based in Bologna city for the EU and non-EU companies that aim to reach all the European countries. Many companies from Italy, Switzerland, the USA, France, UK, and Canada are already involved in deenary platform with over 1000 products available for halal consumers and wholesalers.

The available products are divided into three main categories: modest fashion, halal cosmetics, and halal food. Delivery is guaranteed within three days within Europe – with the exception of European Deprived Areas. PayPal, prepaid and credit card payments are accepted. 

Vendors can register on the platform free of charge to start selling their products that must have a halal certification for cosmetics and food goods. A small fee is later deducted on the orders placed. On deenary, buyers can also ask to view wholesale prices and purchase products directly from the wholesaler at competitive rates.

Deenary.com is now available in Italian, English, and French, but other languages will be available shortly, with a mobile app expected to launch in the next few months.

“We aim to combine Islamic lawfulness and quality”, says Baradai, and adds that selling products manufactured in Europe and connecting new halal markets. with a particular emphasis on North America and APAC regions, are among the company’s main objectives.

The manager of a central Alberta meat processing plant that already flies fresh lamb to Dubai every week says he expects the market for certified halal products will continue to grow.

Sungold Specialty Meats general manager Miles Kliner says his Innisfail plant processes halal lamb and goat meat products and supplies both halal and non-halal markets locally, nationally and abroad

“We certainly see continued opportunity in other countries in the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait,” he said.

“Again, with the international standards the way they are, we feel we’re positioned to be able to capture some of that market.”

Kliner says the market for halal products — food that fits Islamic dietary laws — has grown by eight to 10 percent year-over-year in the past decade.

Sungold is the only federal processor of halal lamb in Western Canada and the largest federal processor in Canada.

“We’re very pleased that we’re able to provide the type of certification necessary for consumers to have confidence in the process.”

For meat to be considered under Muslim principles to be halal, the animal must have been blessed first by an imam and then slaughtered by hand and its blood drained.

“We electrically stun the animals in advance of the bleeding process. So we bring together the humane requirements as well as recognizing the traditional Muslim requirements for ritual slaughter,” Kliner said.

A recent provincial report put Canadian halal food sales at more than $1 billion in 2017.

The Alberta government says it wants to expand the province’s halal capacity as part of overall trade efforts.

Provincial trade and relations officer Aarij Bashir says that also includes the beef industry.

He says the province offers advice and help to current and potential exporters in areas ranging from foreign market access to regulatory barriers.

“We enjoy the support of the government in terms of helping to explore, develop and take advantage of the opportunities that exist,” Kliner said.

Originally published on www.cbc.ca

Manila: Filipino experts have developed a rice-based ready-to-eat halal meal that will serve as emergency food in calamity-hit areas of the country.

According to Nelia Elisa Florendo, chief of the Technological Services Division of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST-ITDI), the experts have developed a ready-to-eat (RTE) Arroz Caldo, or rice porridge meal, that would serve as emergency sustenance during times of calamity, when cooking food is difficult.

The Philippines is a country visited by about 20 cyclones every year, in addition to earthquakes and man-made calamities such as human conflict. Having emergency sustenance in the form of food and water will greatly improve disaster response.

Packaged in pouches, RTE Arroz Caldo has a shelf life of one year and can be eaten without cooking unlike instant noodles and canned food that requires water and a heat source to be cooked.

According to Florendo ITDI is working with a private firm, Kai-Anya Food Inc. to further improve the RTE Arroz Caldo.

Arroz Caldo is a common, Filipino rice-based chicken soup meal.

According to Florendo, the experts are working on processing Halal certification for the emergency meal so that it could also be distributed to Muslim areas hit by calamities.

It can be recalled that during periods when disaster strikes Muslim areas, emergency responders encounter difficulties since some calamity victims would ask for Halal food.

The RTE Arroz Caldo is being sold to the Department of Social Welfare Development which distributes it as emergency relief goods for victims of disasters/calamities in the country.

The social welfare department has warehouses across the country where relief goods are stored.

The ITDI serves as one of the pillars that laid the groundwork for science and technology in the country. It undertakes multidisciplinary industrial research and development, technical services, and knowledge translation or technology transfer and commercialization.

Originally published on www.gulfnews.com

Moscow- The authorities of Ingushetia are ready to arrange halal meat deliveries to airlines carrying out flights to the republic from Moscow, ” the chairman of the republic’s tourism committee, Beslan Miziev said.

“Rostourism implements the Halal-Friendly program, we intend to take part in it and provide the airlines carrying out flights to and from Moscow with halal beef and poultry,” Miziev said, TASS reports.

KARACHI: The year 2019 has turned out to be another low-growth year for Pakistan’s poultry sector, which is at its all-time low, owing to various tax anomalies and an unfriendly export environment.  Even those poultry businesses in Pakistan which run state-of-the-art units now find it difficult to carry on.

In the year 2019, yet again, Pakistan miserably failed to have its presence felt in a $3.7 trillion international Halal food market. Due to unjustified taxation policies, during 2018-19, the poultry industry was able to process less than 5 percent of the total broilers produced in the country, although, it is the world’s 9th largest chicken-producing nation with about 1.2 million broilers produced in the year.

On the contrary, the rest of the world’s major broiler producers and even the countries with marginal poultry production, process more than 95 percent of the total broilers produced.

To make things worse, finished poultry products under FTA with Malaysia are allowed to be imported in Pakistan free of import duty and sales tax, and from China at a preferential rate of 10 percent customs duty.

In contrast, the Pakistan government has imposed a heavy customs duty, sales tax and additional regulatory duties on the import of raw materials for producing poultry feed and for processing, value-added chicken products, thus making it possible for local poultry producers to compete in the international poultry export market.

To restrict the import of value-added poultry products, the government must immediately impose a regulatory duty of at least 40 percent on imports of finished products, processed chicken and tab eggs. This will give the poultry exporters a much-needed space they require for growth.

To curb illegal imports, global chicken importers must comply with Pakistan’s Halal Standards, and every consignment of poultry product reaching Pakistan must be accompanied by a certificate issued and authenticated by the Halal Regulatory Authority nominated by the importing country. This practice is quite common in other Muslim countries.

Although the article was originally published on Aaj news, we have edited some of the content to make it more user-friendly.

DUBAI —  The UAE’s free trade zones are using advanced information management tools to drive the doubling of the global free trade zone GDP, experts announced Monday.

Globally, the contribution of free trade zones to the Islamic Economy is set to double to $117 billion by 2021, according to a recent report by researchers Salaam Gateway. The UAE hosts 4 of the world’s top 10 free trade zone cities for the Islamic Economy.

Industry-watchers agree the new Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone is showing global best practices in using digital transformation to support its more than 13,000 companies.

“Digital transformation is vital for UAE free trade zones to drive the country’s economic growth. Using the latest information management solutions, trade zones can deliver digital services to boost the business competitiveness of small businesses,” said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO at the free trade zone consultancy Condo Protego.

In the UAE, Condo Protego has seen strong success on driving digital transformation for one of the region’s largest free trade zones. By replacing legacy infrastructure with automated software-defined and scale-out infrastructure, the free trade zone can publish its own business applications and move closer to cloud and mobile app delivery.

“Using cloud and mobility information management solutions, free trade zone businesses can gain a level playing field with large enterprises.
Businesses can incorporate faster and more easily, better manage sales and supply chain, and enhance their ability to better meet customer needs,” added Calthorpe.

Among UAE free trade zones, Condo Protego is seeing strong demand for solutions such as Dell EMC hyper-converged infrastructure, and Dell EMC software-defined storage such as ScaleIO, ECS scale-out storage, and Isilon network attached storage.

Originally published on www.saudigazette.com.sa