Unified Halal Standards Must For the Promotion Of the Industry

Halal Research Council (HRC), in association with AlHuda CIBE, has launched a Halal industry free webinar series named “Global Emergence of Halal Industry” to learn with industry experts from around the world from July 2020. The underlying theme of the series is to highlight the need for the unification of global halal standards to promote the industry.

The series aims to promote and strengthen organizations and professionals in the Halal industry. Another objective of the webinar series is to acknowledge the need to promote the industry globally. It also aims to spread awareness among the general public and professionals of various sectors of the global Islamic economy including food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, tourism, etc. The participants attended webinars from different parts of the world to learn about the industry.

The demand for Halal products is increasing enormously and many new Halal markets are emerging in the world. There is a need to uplift the knowledge and understanding of the industry focusing on Halal standards.

During the seminar series, Mr. İhsan ÖVÜT- Secretary-General, of The Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC), Turkey delivered a speech on “OIC/SMIIC Standards on Halal Issues and Halal Quality Infrastructure”. OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.

H shared his insights on various standards and quality infrastructure of the Halal industry. He explained the development processes for OIC/SMIIC standards. He also discussed the OIC global Halal quality infrastructure along with overall quality infrastructure. While delivering the keynote speech, he mentioned that SMIIC has 35 published OIC/SMIIC standards on various sectors including Halal food, conformity assessment for Halal certification bodies, Halal cosmetics, safety, and health, Halal tourism, and different testing methods, etc. He also highlighted the importance of the Halal chain from customer needs to raw material, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and consumption including standards, certification, test laboratories, accreditation, and metrology for the industry.

Mr. Ateeq Ur Rehman Memon – Director General of, the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), conducted his webinar on the “Importance of Halal Accreditation”. He expressed that Halal certification is an important marketing tool to enhance your outreach to the international markets followed by explaining different Halal standards. He said that the Halal market is expected to reach US$ 3 trillion by 2023. Both Muslims and non-Muslims are the target market of the Halal industry due to its hygienic and healthy food.

Beyond the food industry, cosmetics, travel & tourism, pharmaceutical, media and recreation, and modest fashion are also part of the industry. So, now you can imagine the spread of the Halal market worldwide and the potential opportunities. He particularly mentioned that 90% share of the Halal industry is held by non-Muslims and the rest of the 10% is held by Middle East Countries.

Brazil, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, and the US are the leaders of the market where various Muslim countries import Halal meat, dairy, and other food items, said Mr. Rehman. He also explained various challenges of the industry in emerging economies.