“It would be helpful if all meat was labelled pre-stunned or not so people can make informed choices,” Nick Palmer, head of Compassion in World Farming UK, an animal welfare campaign and lobbying group, told Salaam Gateway.

He said it was undesirable for non-pre-stunned meat to be accidentally purchased by consumers who preferred to avoid it.

His comments come as the labelling issue was raised in the European Parliament. In a written parliamentary question, Greek European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) MEP Emmanouil Fragkos asked about the “increasing number of Islamic butchers selling halal meat” in Greece. He claimed “Christians living in largely or primarily Muslim communities within which Islamic butchers operate, unfortunately find themselves obliged to consume halal meat against their will”.

However, there was no European Union (EU) legislation on meat labelling corresponding to religious practices to avoid this situation, a European Commission official told Salaam Gateway. EU member state regulators, religious authorities and non-governmental organisations have competence in this matter.

The official said it was up to consumers to decide whether or not they wanted to consume halal or non-halal food.

Palmer told Salaam Gateway the issue for animal welfare was not really halal meat, but meat from properly stunned animals. There was no animal welfare-related reason to object to halal if pre-stunning had happened, as was often the case.

However, Brussels still allowed slaughter without stunning, justified under the EU 2009 Council regulation on the protection of animals at the time of killing. This accommodated religious slaughter in slaughterhouses.

Fragkos said despite mounting pressure to stop this practice, on 18 June the Brussels regional parliament voted against a bill to ban halal and kosher slaughter in the Belgian capital. Slaughter without stunning was banned in the Belgian provinces Wallonia and Flanders in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Palmer said a butcher deciding to only sell meat from pre-stunned animals may gain customers concerned about the issue while losing others. However, he had not heard that butchers found the issue unmanageable.

“Some will choose to sell all kinds of meat; others will specialise either for ethical or religious reasons, or simply a commercial judgement that one market is more profitable. As for consumers, many simply want the nearest convenient and affordable food,” he said.

He said typically religion did not enter people’s thoughts when deciding what to have for a family meal, and there would be crossover with some Muslims buying non-halal and some non-Muslims buying halal.

“However, an increasing number of consumers from all religions want to feel the animals have been treated well, including minimising suffering at slaughter, and the large quantity of halal meat coming from pre-stunned animals perhaps reflects that preference,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Salah Eldin, halal administrator at the Brussels-based Halal Federation of Belgium (HFB), said more butchers selling halal meat should not be an issue for Christians and non-Muslims.

The matter only affected a small number of customers and would not influence the market, he told Salaam Gateway. Belgium Muslims account for less than 500,000 people out of the country’s 11.6 million population and 10% of the EU and eastern Europe populations.

According to data from USA-based think tank Pew Research Centre cited by worldatlas.com, among the Western European countries, France (7.5%), Netherlands (6%) and Belgium (5.9%) had the greatest share of Muslims in their population in 2010.

However, neither EU statistical office Eurostat nor market researcher Euromonitor International possess figures on the proportion of halal meat sold in Europe, but Euromonitor figures show meat consumption (and thus the amount of halal meat sold) varies significantly country by country.

France consumes 824,200 tonnes of beef and veal and 85,400 tonnes of lamb, mutton and goat and Italy (725,700 tonnes of beef and veal and 54,200 tonnes of lamb, mutton and goat), effectively topping the table.

Eldin insisted halal was “a quality label and quality concept” and large French families often tried halal butchers, for poultry predominantly, as the meat was cheaper. Once discovering the quality, they remained with halal.

He said studies by the University of Ghent have argued stunning was not the main animal welfare concern, taking account of an animal or bird’s entire life. An older paper emphasised that Muslims bought meat considering all aspects of animal welfare and health.

Halal-slaughtered animals must have been fed a natural diet containing no animal by-products; properly transported to the slaughterhouse and slaughtered on their own.

“It is a ‘farm to fork’ issue,” he told Salaam Gateway, claiming non-halal meat was often slaughtered in industrial conditions by commercial businesses.

He agreed labelling and standards were essential to stop consumer confusion when buying meat. Halal meat should carry a halal certificate showing the animal had been slaughtered using a sharp knife and had lived according to halal conditions.

“We are working with the EU and animal rights groups like GAIA (Belgium-based Global Action in the Interest of Animals) to ensure proper halal standards.”

Eldin argued Muslims were not obliged to eat halal, but health-wise it was better for them.

Meanwhile the popularity of halal meat was undeniable and Brussels boasted not only halal butchers, but also halal pizzerias and snack bars.

Islamic butchers Boucherie Nassiri in Forest (or Vorst in Dutch), Brussels, told Salaam Gateway his meat carried no official certificate, but “everyone knows the meat is halal” as it is written on the shop sign (in Arabic) on the door.

“We also have halal meat written on our bills,” he said, adding his customers are both Muslims and non-Muslims.

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Cultured meat (also known as laboratorial-grown or cultivated meat) is typically produced by harvesting cells from a living animal and cultivating them outside the animal’s body using tissue engineering and cellular agriculture to form cuts of meat. Therein lies the rub in halal terms – as permissible, or halal, meat should be derived from slaughtering a healthy animal through a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe followed by all the blood being drained from the carcass.

These rules have been the subject of debate for livestock, including discussions over pre-stunning, so it is no surprise the debate on halal cultured meat is quite robust. Nevertheless, the cultured meat industry hopes its products can be recognised as halal and thus seize a piece of the huge halal food market. There are currently more than 2 billion Muslims and the US-based World Population Review expects Islam to become the world’s largest religion by 2050.

Even without halal certification, the global cultured meat market is poised for growth. It is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% by 2030, delivering revenue of $499.9 million (2021: $133.4 million), according to data from New York-based Polaris Market Research. German business statistical service Statista predicts cultured meat will hold 30% of the meat market share by 2040.

Although the first cultured meat product was a beef burger (unveiled in 2013), the poultry segment is projected to account for the market’s largest share moving forward. American consultancy firm MarketsandMarkets attributes this to “the growing popularity of poultry products in quick-service restaurants”.

Pending market approvals, North America (with 3.45 million Muslims in the US alone) is expected to be the largest regional market for cultured meat due to the “increasing adoption of an on-the-go lifestyle and consumption of snacking products”.

However, Statista believes China will overtake the continent in sales by 2026. According to the World Population Review, the country has 28 million Muslims.

Since 2013 the industry has grown to more than 60 companies, backed by over $450 million in investments, according to data from US-based non-profit organisation Good Food Institute. This has been driven by an uptick in environmental concern globally and evidence showing the impact of meat consumption.

Cultured meat can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 96% according to a study by Oxford University and, with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation predicting global meat consumption will rise over 70% by 2050, many cultured meat producers are stepping up their efforts – including in Muslim countries.

Following the first sale of its cultured chicken, in Singapore in December 2020, a country that is 15.6% Muslim, US-based food technology company Eat Just Inc announced last August it would build a Qatar-based cultured meat production facility. This would include production for its Good Meat brand and plant-based egg division Just Egg.

The company said the Qatar Free Zones Authority and ministry of public health had indicated their intention to grant regulatory approval for Good Meat-cultivated chicken “very soon”, but it did not mention halal status.

In its statement, Good Meat said it was “exploring the possibility of halal certification” and would work closely with the religious authorities given slaughter-free, cultivated meat was “very novel”.

In the academic paper Cultured Meat in Islamic Perspective published in the Journal of Religion and Health, Mohammad Naqib Hamdan and his co-authors argue classical jurists (fuqaha) have never seriously discussed cultured meat as it was a new discovery. This meant “an ijtihad (independent reasoning) by contemporary jurists must look for and provide answers” on whether or not cultured meat could be halal.

Mian N Riaz, associate department head and holder of professorship in food diversity at Texas A&M University, argued cultured meat may be considered halal if stem cells were obtained from an animal slaughtered in line with halal regulations and the culture medium was free of animal extracts such as blood or serum.

“However, according to some Muslim scholars, the process of clean (cultured) meat production violates the natural law, which can be perceived as ‘playing God’ and resulted in some suggesting the banning of cultured meat production,” he said.

With no set guidelines, many Islamic organisations will look to each other for decision-making. Last September Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, said cultured meat derived from live animals is not halal. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country.

Similarly, scholars in Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim country, have argued only cultured meat made using cells from halal-slaughtered animals can be regarded halal.

“As it is such as massive market, what Indonesia decides is very significant,” said Lucia Vancura, director of global markets at Japan-based Meros Consulting.

Riaz added that even if cultured meat was halal certified, producers had to overcome cultural barriers in making sales. Noreen Hobayan, director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs at US-based producer of cell-cultured seafood BlueNalu, agreed, noting devout consumers would first look to their religious leaders first.

However, if the factory-to-table barriers can be overcome, potential was high.

“If the religious authorities do consider cultivated meat halal, we expect a strong demand across the Islamic world for meat made in this new way,” said Carlotte Lucas, corporate engagement manager at Good Food Institute Europe.

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A new halal logo launched by the Indonesian religious affairs ministry in March is a case in point with many saying it is hard to understand. Critics say the word “halal” in the new logo is hard to identify, because it is represented through stylised calligraphy, while its predecessor simply contained the word in Arabic, in green on a white background, like those found in most countries.

The new symbol was designed to recall a gunungan symbol used in the Javanese shadow puppet theatre to help audiences understand the play’s direction. However, critics have called its use in the logo “Javacentric”, deferring to Indonesia’s dominant ethnic group accounting for around 40% of the population.

Indonesia’s new halal logo halal certification label.

“We don’t think it’s a problem how it looks – it’s just a label – but we have listened to inputs from many parties including branding experts,” said Mastuki, head of the Centre for Halal Registration and Certification at the Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency (BPJPH - Badan Penanggulangan Jaminan Produk Hala).

“We’ve done our research on halal logos around the world. We wanted the new logo to reflect an Indonesian identity,” Mastuki, who like many Indonesians uses just one name, told Salaam Gateway. “The shadow puppet is an Indonesian identity, not just Javanese and it’s our cultural heritage.”

Mastuki said the new logo took effect on 1 March, but products could still use the old logo for another five years. This is particularly relevant in Indonesia, as the Halal Product Assurance Law (Undang-Undang Jaminan Produk Halal), passed in 2014, stipulates effective October 2019, products such as food, cosmetics and medicines must undergo a certification process into whether or not they are halal, thus permissible under Islamic law, and labelled accordingly.

Tulus Abadi, the head of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation, said the new logo was “not informative”.

“(It) is extremely different from the old one. Its colour and design are a departure from commonly recognised halal logos,” he told Salaam Gateway, adding this could cause confusion as a common feature was needed for consumers to recognise a halal logo.

Indonesian graphic designer @NeoNetizen was unimpressed and in March tweeted: “Russia’s halal logo doesn’t feature a bear, Korea’s doesn’t feature K-pop, Rome’s doesn’t feature Roman script. Why does Indonesia’s feature ‘wayang gunungan’?”

The same question might be asked of the Muslim Professional Japan Association (MPJA), whose logo features a snow-tipped black Mount Fuji against a red background.
 

The MPJA's website explains the association's logo - 1. Mount Fuji with a white-colored peak in the centre of the logo. 2. The Arabic word ‘Halal’ at the centre of the logo. 3. The oval logo contains the word “Muslim Professional Japan Association” and “Halal For All MPJA”. 4. One small five-pointed stars placed at the bottom of the logo to separate the “moto” and “MPJA” word.

Global halal logo trends

There are more than 100 halal certification logos worldwide – one for each certification body whose auditors ensure the products bearing their labels truly comply with Islamic production principles. The majority of halal certification bodies are private, although in Muslim-majority countries many are often affiliated to the state or government run. While many are for food and drink products, some halal certification bodies, such as the Dublin, Ireland-based Department of Halal Certification Europe (DHCE), also certify cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.

“Every halal certification body has its own reputation and credibility globally. There is no uniform logo. There should be ideally, but this would require a global halal standard, which there is not, said Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, quality control director for the DHCE.

Most logos feature either (or both) the Arabic and Romanised wording for “halal”. Having the Arabic means “straight away you see products are halal,” said Shaykh Al-Qadri.

He added while the DHCE name provided credibility to a halal certification, they were not focused on standing out from competitors.

Unsurprisingly, most halal logos are at least partially green with UK-based DHCE auditor Mohammed Masood Abid telling Salaam Gateway “green is the colour of Islam”.

Department of Halal Certification Europe.

According to Egypt’s primary Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta, green symbolises prosperity and a good life and is mentioned in the Quran as “the colour of the garments and cushions of the people of paradise”.

In Europe, blue is another choice as it reflects the European Union’s blue flag with gold stars. Both the Halal Food Council of Europe (HFCE) and EuroHalal logos feature blue lettering on a white background.

Most Muslim countries also have regulatory standards on logo use and halal certification, notably the Malaysian Standard on Halal Food (MS 1500:2009), the Singapore Muis Halal Standards (SMHS) and the Pakistan Standard for Halal Food Management System (PS 3733:2019).

Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM)

Malaysia

Malaysia’s official halal logo is designed to be internationally recognisable and indicates a product or business has been certified halal by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM – Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia). Introduced in 2003, the current logo is a circle with the Arabic for halal in the centre and rung by the word “Malaysia” to streamline its authenticity, rather than JAKIM that international consumers may not know or understand.

Within the circle, two stars with five vertices on the left and right separate the words Malaysia and 'ماليزيا' - Malaysia in Arabic. Below the circle, two lines can be inserted indicating the relevant Malaysian standards for halal certification, for example MS1500:2009 refers to its halal food standard.

The line below shows a product’s unique number linked to an application for authorisation from JAKIM. This logo replaced an older version where halal was written in green and in Arabic, encapsulated in a circle.

Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality.

Egypt

In Egypt, designers have plumped for a more figurative design for the mark used by the ministry of trade and industry’s Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality (EOS) responsible for issuing licenses of halal certification. The logo features the word “halal” in Arabic, artistically drawn in the shape of a mosque that includes a minaret topped with a crescent moon.

The artwork sits inside an eight-pointed star that can be found on several emblems and flags of Muslim countries and is ingrained in Islamic art and architecture, according to Teik-Cheng Lim, associate professor at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

The halal mark is only issued for products destined for export outside Egypt with everything sold domestically deemed halal by default. Hence, the country’s name in English is clearly included in the design.

In its conditions for using the halal mark, the EOS states the logo can be used in advertisements for an associated halal-certified product, but cannot be used on office walls, cargo trucks or company documents. It also cannot be used in a size smaller than 1cm2.

Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology (EMSA).

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) is responsible for issuing halal certification and the Halal National Mark (HNM). ESMA’s mark is the only halal logo allowed to be used in the UAE and is recognised in all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as Malaysia.

The UAE Halal National Mark design is simple and features the distinctive crescent moon, in an orange polka dot format, an internationally-recognised symbol of Islam, encompassing the word “halal” in English and Arabic. It does not denote the UAE as the origin of exported products.

International Halal Certification Ltd (IHC).

Pakistan

The International Halal Certification Ltd (IHC), an agency accredited by the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), issues halal certification and halal marks for companies globally. Like ESMA’s halal national mark, the IHC also uses a crescent moon in its design with an affirmative check mark to denote quality assurance. “International Halal Certification” is fully typed out in Arabic and English to show the IHC’s global scope and halal appears in a red font to stand out from the rest of the text.
 

Halal Research Council.

Lahore, Pakistan-based Halal Research Council chief executive officer Muhammad Zubair Mughal agreed a logo should be clear and easy to understand.

However, he is concerned that around 80% of global halal logos use Arabic, a problem given many Muslim consumers cannot read Arabic – especially in Latin America and Europe. He argued the ideal strategy would be to use the local and Arabic languages in the logo – the Halal Research Council logo uses Arabic and English, which is co-official with Urdu in Pakistan.

American Halal Foundation.

USA

Mohammad A Hussaini, vice president at the American Halal Foundation (AHF) in Bolingbrook, Illinois, believes many halal logos are too complicated. This includes the AHF’s old logo that displayed an H inside a star, inside a black square, inside a circle of words.

The new logo is simpler – an H inside a traditional eight-pointed star in black or green. As well as looking cleaner, he said it met the organisation’s goal of being immediately recognisable to consumers.

“It has an Arabic element (the star) to show the traditional heritage. We pay homage to that.”

The design also pays attention to producers’ needs, he added. “When you have a brand, you want that brand to be full front and centre. The logo disc is simple, not drawing attention away from brand.”

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).

The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) also takes producers’ needs into account with its logo, said Muhammad Munir Chaudry, the organisation’s president. It offers variations on the logo to accommodate different packaging sizes.

The heart of the IFANCA logo is the Islamic symbol crescent moon, but Chaudry said it was designed not to appeal exclusively to Muslims.

“When you put more words in, you make it narrow. Halal is good for you. We look at how it is produced; that it has good manufacturing practices (and) no harmful ingredients. Halal is for all.”

Halal Certification Organisation (HCO).

UK

According to Amer Rashid, technical director at Birmingham, England-based Halal Certification Organisation (HCO), the ideal halal logo design should be simple with a clear message. The logo has three main purposes: a simple and recognisable form; proving the product is halal certified and showing which organisation had certified the product.

Accordingly, he said the HCO logo clearly states the organisation’s name and values and includes the words “halal”, “healthy” and “hygienic”

“These are all very important because these things are exactly what a halal product should be,” he said.

Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC).

Nadeem Adam, the operations director of another UK-based halal certifier, the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC), agreed, indicating a halal logo should be simple and clear and the sign uphold halal provenance.

He said although the HMC was globally recognised, its core recognition was in the UK and consequently the organisation had opted for the current design as it encompassed the core value of monitoring.

“This is what HMC does – monitoring the halal supply chain in real-time for meat and poultry products,” he added.

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There are no international standards for halal game, but, according to The New Muslim Guide, written by Fahd ibn Saalim Baa Hammaam (also known as Fahd Salem Bahammam) in association with Islamic scholars, “Muslims are permitted to hunt lawful animals and birds (that) cannot be easily caught and slaughtered”, so long as they are eaten.

This means recreational hunting is forbidden, but prey caught by trained dogs or falcons is considered halal in the Qu’ran, say scholars. However, The New Muslim Guide takes a stricter line: “Hunting is permitted in Islam only when necessary for food. Taking the life of an animal for sport, without intending to eat from it or otherwise benefit from it, is prohibited”.

There are also restrictions in allowable weapons: “The hunting weapon must kill by reason of its sharpness, like an arrow or a bullet” and “the name of Allah must be pronounced when the hunting weapon is discharged”, according to the same source.

If an animal is wounded, say with a stone or a trap, it must be slaughtered later according to proper halal (permissible) procedures.

Despite such difficulties, there has been a “notable increase in the popularity” of hunted wild game meat in recent years in halal and non-halal markets said researchers from the University of Milan, Italy and Michigan State University, USA although a “lack of professional supply chain” has limited growth.

That may change, indicated Mustafa Farouk, a senior meat scientist at AgResearch Ltd, a New Zealand government-owned livestock-focused biological science and development institute, given halal game provides an alternative for Muslims in European countries where animals must be stunned before slaughter, such as in Denmark.

Moreover, higher-end restaurants in Muslim-majority countries will also increase demand, he said: “A lot of high-end restaurants in the Middle East will be looking forward to having this kind of product.”

There is no global data about halal game and in many places game meat is hunted for subsistence without official records being taken. Yet, according to the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation, overall global game meat production reached 1,950,395 tonnes in 2020.

This represented a 25% growth since 2000 with largely non-Muslim Papua New Guinea being the largest producer, followed by the USA (3.45 million Muslims) and Nigeria with around 100 million Muslims. African countries represent 59.1% of the total production (there are around 500 million Muslims in the continent), followed by Oceania (22.4%), while Europe produces much less (0.7%).

Game hunting in New Zealand

Farouk, who co-wrote an academic paper about halal game, said potential halal game export markets were “mostly in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and part of Africa”. However, in the largest producing countries, people hunted only for themselves. He has “a few friends who are Muslims and hunters” who “share (it) with friends as a treat” in New Zealand.

Farouk believes “very few” Muslims hunt for themselves in Europe, and, based on his investigation, “the biggest importing countries are mostly rich European countries”.

South Africa has a wide “range of wild animals that can be hunted” and New Zealand has a well-established supply chain for hunted meat. Consequently, Farouk wants to encourage New Zealand game producers to follow halal principles to expand their businesses.

South Africa’s halal game

Mufti Mohamed Yusuf Seedat, general manager of the South African National Halaal Authority (SANHA) for the Gauteng region and theological representative, told Salaam Gateway his organisation works with a small number of halal game producers, but believes this sector has the potential of “huge growth in the future”.

“In South Africa, given its climate and land, game farming has become big in tourism. Therefore, the government controls which animals must be killed to keep the environment sustainable,” said Ebi Lockhat, SANHA public relations officer.

Seedat explained most hunts take place in the country’s central areas and many at night under “freezing cold” temperatures by “highly trained personnel”. In most hunts snipers are on the open-back of vehicles and occasionally animals are also shot “from a helicopter”.

Teams rush as quickly as possible to those animals and do the slaughter, ensuring they are still alive. SANHA sends supervisors with hunting teams to ensure compliance with Islamic dietary rules.

Certain procedures usually undertaken at abattoirs, such as removing the intestines, are staged in the field before the trucks are sealed and the meat sent to certified abattoirs for further processing under supervision. Thereafter, the meat is exported or dispatched for domestic manufacturing, packaging and sale.

Such requirements do not make halal game prohibitively expensive since the price relates to the market value of the source animal, said Seedat, noting certain animals, such as duiker (a small antelope) and springbok, can cost “$100 or less” to kill, transport and sell, including fees and certification costs.

However, some animals command more regulatory and processing costs, for instance sable antelope and large African buffalo, which can cost hunters Rand 100,000 ($6,691) before sale, he said, notably because they may be sourced from a restricted area that is expensive to access or the animals are rare.

“So, if you shoot the wrong one, you will pay a lot,” noted Seedat.

Demand for halal game 'steady not surging' in the UK

Muhammad Hussain Nasim, the founder of British onlinemeatshop.com, part of the 29-year-old group Noori Halal Butchers, said his company has been trying to promote halal deer in the UK. “In the last two years, we have seen a growth in just venison sales by over 100% and the sales of halal meat, namely deer and rabbit, represent at least 11-12% minimum of our sales”, he said, indicating this was “huge” in a universe of nine types of meat.

Onlinemeatshop.com has 60 private customers and four restaurants buying halal game monthly, he answered.

For more than two years, the entrepreneur has been working with hobbyist freelance Muslim hunters who hunt in paid “government authorised locations” in Petersfield, Hampshire; Dunsfold, Surrey; and Braintree, Essex in southern England, trusting they follow halal procedures.

They do not use bullets, rather arrows, traps or stunning mechanisms and, once an animal is wounded, it usually takes 20 minutes to find and slaughter it. This follow-up must be undertaken with care and speed, because a wounded deer can “go crazy” and “tear the human apart”, he explained.

Nasim argued the work helps reduce deer numbers to safe levels, preventing road accidents and balancing ecosystems without predators for these large animals.

He foresees a “steady rather than surging” halal game business since more people are becoming vegans or vegetarians in the belief this “is the way forward to help society”.

However, he argues game is a sustainable option: 100kg of cow yields 60kg of edible prime meat whereas 100kg of deer can deliver 80kg of top-quality edible meat.

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Arab countries are among the most vulnerable countries to cereal availability and price fluctuations. Driven by robust demand and supply shortfalls in some producer regions, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO UN) Food Price Index has continuously grown since the second-half of 2020 and reached an all-time high in February 2022. This was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the wake of the Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, grain prices on the futures markets spiked to an all-time high in the FAO Food Price Index’s (FAO, 2022) history.

The invasion can affect grain prices in three ways – crop losses (especially in Ukraine); logistical problems as most exports travel through western Black Sea ports including Odessa and trade financing and payment processing problems due to sanctions.

Since Russia is also a major fertiliser exporter such as potash, nitrogen, phosphate and ammonia, that collapse will affect the cereal production in other countries. Russia and Ukraine account for 29% of global wheat exports, 31% of barley, 19% of corn, 23% of rapeseed/canola and a staggering 78% of sunflower oil – and the Arab region will bear a disproportionate burden of the crisis.

Given its structural weaknesses related to land and water availability, it disproportionately relies on staple food commodity imports with wheat particularly important for human calorie intake and barley as animal feedstock.

FAO Food Price Index February 2022

Wheat – a critical element to Arab daily consumption

According to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia 2015 (UNESCWA), wheat provides between 24 and 49% of Arab consumers’ daily calories, predominantly via bread. This makes wheat the single most important crop in the Arab region for food and nutrition security.

Lebanon and Egypt are particularly exposed to developments in the Black Sea. In 2020 the two warring nations accounted for 96% of wheat imports to Lebanon and 86% to Egypt.

Other highly import-reliant countries are Mauritania, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. Although there has been a small decline in imports from Ukraine and Russia and more trade diversification since 2018, the Arab region is disproportionately dependent on the Black Sea for wheat.

Arab reliance on wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine from 2015 to 2020 (FAO statistics 2022). No updated data available for Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Palestine.

Barley – feeding the animals

Predominantly used as animal feed, barley is another important commodity sourced from Russia and Ukraine. Again, about half of the barley requirements are imported from the Black Sea with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia being the most dependent countries as their barley imports are not diversified.

Any long-term disruption of trade relations could significantly limit the availability of barley. The same applies to the price of meat and dairy products as they depend on animal feed such as barley or maize.

Arab reliance on barley imports from Russia and Ukraine between 2015 and 2020 (FAO statistics 2022). No data available for Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Qatar and Palestine.

The short-term, medium-term and long-term consequences

The timing poses significant challenges to Arab region governments, private sector players and consumers. Cereal harvests in Arab countries will not start before the middle of the second quarter, while in Europe and North America wheat is sown in autumn and harvested in July. This leaves little room for major production expansions in 2022 (Abay et al., 2022).

The most significant consequences will appear in the short-term future impacting on Ramadan in the most economically vulnerable countries when food consumption is generally higher than normal. The most vulnerable countries are Somalia, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya and Yemen that have little or no access to hard currencies to cover the costs of expensive emergency wheat imports.

Consequently, wheat rationing and the increased use of available storage might be inevitable. Arab countries differ according to their storage. While Lebanon has about one month of wheat storage available, Egypt has wheat for four months and last year Saudi Arabia increased its storage facilities by 37% (Schroeder, 2021; Walsh, 2022).

Since agricultural commodity markets are uncertain, market transparency and policy dialogue must be strengthened to ensure international markets function properly and trade in food and agricultural products flows smoothly.

Market control and monitoring mechanisms must be improved to control storage and monitor availability. Many Arab countries partially control wheat prices to shield domestic food prices from movements in global markets.

However, the capacity of these countries to insulate against a major shock was displayed during the 2008/2009 food price spikes when every country in the region, except Morocco and Syria, experienced food inflation of over 20% (FAO, 2020).

To maintain stable bread prices, especially for vulnerable groups, Arab governments must strengthen social safety nets, possibly assisted by emergency loans from international financial institutions.

In the medium-term, countries must carefully weigh their existing measures against the potentially detrimental effect on international markets. Alternative wheat and barley sources must be identified – including North and South America, Australia and India. The latter has already announced it can increase its wheat production by 2023 to mitigate some of the global shortage (Times of India, 2022). Yet procuring wheat from more distant regions comes with increased prices given boosted transportation costs.

The Black Sea crisis similarly affects oil and gas prices ultimately leading to increased shipping and fertiliser costs. Emergency loans and budgetary support for food subsidies must continue to mitigate the effect on the Arab region’s poor, but might face challenges of fiscal sustainability.

Expectations are for the wheat market crisis to last until 2023 (Abay et al., 2022). Hence, long-term effects will further cripple Arab countries. Limited mitigation and diversification opportunities might exist through dietary changes towards rice and other traditional starchy crops such as durum wheat, aestivum and sorghum that can be grown under marginal conditions in the water-scarce region.

Durum wheat and aestivum are either dried or smoked to become bhurgul and freekeh that are an ancient tradition especially in the Maghreb and Mashreq countries (Ohr, 2014; Toufeili et al., 1997). Good yields can be expected with supplementary irrigation.

However, traditional starchy crops will only contribute to food security; not provide self-sufficiency. Eventually, global markets will stabilise once farmers react to price signals and shift to wheat production.

This will further stabilise global grain markets. However, Arab governments might have to diversify trading partners, but this will come at a price. Russian and Ukrainian wheat typically trade at a discount compared to higher quality wheat from other regions; hence alternative supplies will be more expensive notwithstanding the higher transport costs.

References

Abay, K., Abdelfattah, L., Breisinger, C., Glauber, J., Laborde, D., 2022. The Russia-Ukraine crisis poses a serious food security threat to Egypt. IFPRI Blog. URL https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-crisis-poses-serious-food-security-threat-egypt (accessed 3.15.22).

Ohr, L.M., 2014. Good Things Come in Small Sizes. FOOD Technol. 68, 57-+.

Schroeder, E., 2021. Saudi Arabia adds wheat storage. World Grain.

Times of India, 2022. Putin’s war may help boost India’s wheat and maize exports: report.

Toufeili, I., Olabi, A., Shadarevian, S., Antoun, M.A., Zurayk, R., Baalbaki, I., 1997. Relationships of selected wheat parameters to burghul-making quality. J. Food Qual. 20, 211–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-4557.1997.tb00465.x

UNESCWA, UNESCWA, 2015. Pathways toward food security in the Arab region: an assessment of wheat availability. UNESCWA, Beirut.

Walsh, A., 2022. A new Arab Spring, thanks to the Ukraine war? Dtsch. Welle.



Dr Martin Keulertz is an assistant professor in the Food Security Programme as the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. His research interests centre on strategies for food and water security in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and how a rapidly growing region can address its future food requirements through sustainable and adapted domestic production, food technology innovation and agricultural trade.

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Her concerns were not unsubstantiated. In December 2020 Malaysia uncovered a “cartel-style meat scandal” where the country’s state news agency Bernama reported importers had used fake halal logos to sell halal meat in the country. The Malay Mail said consequently charges were brought against two directors of Johor Baru-based frozen meat company Raihanah Cold Storage Sdn Bhd for falsifying halal logos on its transport vehicles as a result.

In January 2021 the Malaysian government announced a mandatory use of QR codes from March last year to authenticate imported halal meat.

Senior food safety expert with India-based consultants Top Certifier Charles Kunjumon told Salaam Gateway a QR code linked to a certificate will give the details such as name of the certification body, organisation name, certificate number, validity, labelling or certification of the food purchased.

That can tell customs teams whether overseas abattoirs and processing plants have been approved by Malaysia’s department of veterinary services (DVS) and its core halal certifying agency the department of Islamic development (JAKIM), as per Malaysian import regulations.

Khan added while “QR codes are not an anti-counterfeiting mechanism,” they could direct officials, buyers and consumers to products. These details could be copied and incorporated into a QR code.

That said, such data could be checked and QR codes made more secure, though using holograms or optically variable ink, she said adding “nothing was foolproof”.

Blockchain to the rescue?

Kunjumon said this was where blockchain technology could make a difference through its secure, immutable and decentralised ledger delivering traceability of halal labelling. Blockchain technology used a chain of blocks containing data and information.

Each block consists of three parts: data, unique ID (hash) and previous hash. These blocks were linked in a peer-to-peer network and the hash changes if the information is edited, making it difficult to tamper with the information.

He said this meant once data was stored in the blockchain (a new block is created) and other participants had agreed on these details, it was difficult to change. As a block was created, a hash was automatically added and if someone attempted to alter data within a block, the hash was automatically replaced by a new one.

This caused an error in the next block as it recorded the previous hash that could be detected.

The decentralised ledger enabled a peer-to-peer network to manage the chains with each party receiving a copy of the blockchain. Every user received notification of any changes or additions to inspect the historical data.

“The technology allows transparency of information as stakeholders can trace data recorded from farm to fork. This boosts consumers’ trust in halal products,” Kunjumon said, adding integrating QR Codes within such system aided users verify a halal certificate through the delivery of details such as a certification body, organisation name, certificate number, validity and labelling.

He said these systems had gained wide interest. South Korea’s telecommunication company KT recently announced it has developed a global traceability blockchain for halal food.

Maximising the use of digital technologies could improve the reliability of blockchain-based systems, Khan said.

Examples were using the internet of things (IoT), oracles (links between blockchain and standard data) and smart contracts to record the supply chain and product parameters at different transformation points from farm-to-fork. This would reduce halal food fraud, she said.

Challanges ahead

Nevertheless, there were challenges. Blockchain required “considerable resources” in terms of capital, knowledge, skilled personnel and targeted awareness campaigns. Hence Khan suggested halal companies gradually adopt such systems.

“These systems are important given past and current paper-based systems can be opaque and easy to manipulate. Where these are used, a dearth of real-time recording of processes, increases doubts production follows the laws from the Quran and minimal and centralised infrastructure oversight allows manipulation of halal labelling,” researchers from Oxford University and Bina Nusantara University, in Jakarta, Indonesia said in a report.

They described the process of recording information throughout the production process as “opaque, thus prone to data tampering that is difficult to trace”.

A licence to print money for fraudsters

Luqman Bin-Dawood, CEO of blockchain providers Halal Trail, based in Manchester, UK, told Salaam Gateway paper-based halal tracing systems were “a licence to print money” for fraudsters.

A large-scale survey of halal-certified food products randomly collected from markets in Thailand in 2019 saw 4,829 food samples from 10 food groups tested in a laboratory for four potentially haram substances: porcine DNA, porcine fatty acids, ethanol, and hydroxyproline (gelatin).

The tests indicated 62 (1.3%) had positive results for traces of one or more of these ingredients.

Peter Hall, a consultant with Halal Trail, highlighted the vulnerabilities at slaughterhouses regarding halal monitoring and record keeping. A slaughterhouse might falsely label a vet-certified sick animal as healthy, misleading supply chain participants. However, if a farmer or a vet had been honest and logged the problem, this fraud by a slaughterhouse would be picked up via a blockchain system.

He said this underscored the value of blockchain within lengthy supply chains covered by halal certification processes.

Professor Dr Marco Tieman, CEO of LBB International, a Netherlands and Malaysia-based supply chain strategy consulting and research company, stressed blockchain ledger technology could help with auditing.

“Blockchain can isolate problems regarding product recalls or halal standards for certification and can give quick answers about the halal status of products or processes,” he told Salaam Gateway.

He said companies have lost millions of dollars in lost sales globally through such problems. Halal cases were noticed in Muslim countries through internet-based media and Muslims may boycott products associated with halal fraud. Corporate reputations, he said, could be protected by blockchain technology.

Tieman said blockchain would become more widespread as the halal sector matured, moving from basic product-led companies to established supply chains and groups of companies looking to develop a sophisticated value chain approach.

He told Salaam Gateway leading halal companies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia were moving towards a supply and value chain approach; addressing areas such as halal branding, Islamic finance and more within 10 years.

“The beauty of blockchain is you can transform from the product approach to a supply chain and value chain approach to meet new requirements,” he said.

Naturally, for such developments to bed in, tighter controls on land crossings, seaports and airports involved in halal transportation logistics were needed. Tieman said the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) had yet to develop specific codes relating to halal freight, meaning certified products could be mixed with haram goods, potentially invalidating their strict halal status.

"There's a need for standards there," he told Salaam Gateway, stressing how blocks on a distributed ledger system could verify if halal procedures had been followed at distinct stages throughout the supply chain.

The same was true, he said, for e-commerce distributors who may offer halal goods, but failed to install appropriate halal logistics standards. Ultimately, a consensus was emerging that – as researchers from the Italian universities of Bari Aldo Moro, Turin and Foggi had said – the implementation of blockchain technology was “an instrument to increase the trustworthiness and traceability of halal foods”.

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The military action, that on 17 April the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner said had killed 2,072 civilians, has put the Middle East and North Africa in a tight position over food supplies. This comes on top of the region's economies having been weakened by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Dutch government figures reflect Russia produced 85.8 million tonnes of wheat in 2020, while news agency Reuters credits Ukraine with producing 24.9 million tonnes. With imports accounting for as much as 90% of food consumption, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has been impacted by a steep reduction in grain and sunflower seed exports from Russia and Ukraine and freight rates inflated by the war.

“Supply chains have been interrupted and food prices have risen sharply due to the Gulf’s extensive reliance on Russian and Ukrainian staple foods,” said Matthew Hoffer, managing director of Europe and Middle East at OneAgrix, a global agricultural and halal digital trade platform.

“This is particularly so for wheat, corn, sunflower seed oil and barley, in some cases accounting for as much as 50% of imports. This scarcity has escalated costs and thereby prices (causing food inflation),” he said.

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data shows Saudi Arabia and Oman import around half of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Russia is also the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) largest wheat supplier with a 50% market share, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Moreover, 73% of sunflower oil in the UAE was imported from Ukraine and 7% from Russia in 2019, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

“The GCC imports as much as 90% of all food, so any disruption obviously has a knock-on effect,” said Hoffer, while adding the GCC states were protected by a diversified supply chain and their wealth, itself been sunk into more local production and food storage.

COVID-19 supply problems have also encouraged contingency planning – the UAE approved a new federal strategic food reserve law in 2020 to maintain crisis supplies. To protect consumers from food price hikes stemming from the Ukraine invasion, the UAE approved a new policy in April 2022 telling suppliers to submit evidence to justify price increases of goods including bread and rice.

The region has also sourced more sugar, wheat and barley from Latin America, particularly Brazil. Meanwhile, Gulf countries have increased payments to other Middle East and North African countries, such as Egypt and Algeria, to help them counter inflation.

“In return, these countries have stopped exporting to existing countries and diverted commodities such as grains, cooking oil and oilseeds to the Gulf,” said Hoffer.

That assistance will be welcome in North Africa, where even relatively wealthy Tunisia faces significant disruption of supplies as Russian tanks roll over Ukraine’s rich farmland. Sigma Conseil, a Tunisian statistical and polling organisation confirmed on 14 April that, with Tunisia importing more than 66% of its cereals, 61% of its durum wheat, 97% of its soft wheat and 98% of its barley, the risk of disruption is real. Most of Tunisia’s cereal imports come from Ukraine, particularly soft wheat.

According to data service Trading Economics, $151.96 million’s worth of wheat (and meslin); $89.9 million’s worth of corn and $62.1 million’s worth of barley was imported into Tunisia from Ukraine in 2021. 

Ukraine has been struggling to export 20 million tonnes of wheat and corn harvested in 2021 due to Russian navy blockades on the Black Sea according to the Ukrainian Grain Association.

Consequently, Mohamed Sadok Jebnoun, a Tunisian economist, said the invasion would reduce availability and increase prices.

He told Salaam Gateway the Russo-Ukrainian war had started while the world was still recovering from the economic aftermath of COVID-19. Governments were expecting to tackle post-pandemic recovery, but this process had stopped in light of the supply chain crisis and massive rise in raw material prices caused by the war.

“The war directly affected the price of cereals and barley has reached $500 per tonne,” said Jebnoun.

While the Tunisian ministry of agriculture, water resources and fisheries has confirmed the country is cushioned by having a three-month stock of wheat, other African countries are less well prepared.

Africa feels the brunt of rising prices

“The African continent has been the most affected and harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic and now by the Russia-Ukraine war,” he said.

Jebnoun predicted Africa’s collective public debt would rise by at least $300 billion because of the war and the pandemic in addition to the previously planned debts in the African countries’ budgets.

“Ukraine is a main exporter of wheat, cereals, sunflower oils and other food products to Africa… We can say Tunisia has average harm following this war, while other countries have harsher effects, such as the Sahel and Sahara Desert countries,” he predicted, indicating key food importers Egypt and Algeria would also suffer.

“The worst scenario is that importing countries will be left with no stock for next summer,” said Algerian economist Mourad Kouachi of the University of Oum El Bouaghi. He told Salaam Gateway the worst would come if the conflict continued through the Ukrainian harvest season as that would translate into famine for many poor countries.

Jebnoun said seeking alternative wheat supplies further afield – such as India, Australia and Argentina – may not be a solution given the current high shipping costs now running around 200% of pre-pandemic levels.

“The African Development Bank has been urging cereals self-sufficiency on African countries, but that will take time.”

Will price rises cause unrest and a new Arab Spring?

The Tunisian economist thinks not.

“The real problem today is an economic and social one that aims to fight poverty and boost the economic situation. The priority should go to the economic and social situation; the only revolution people should think about today is the technological one,” Jebnoun said.

The impact on the food trade with key halal markets in south-east Asia – Indonesia and Malaysia – will be less important, although still significant. In March, Wellian Wiranto, a senior economist for the Singapore-based OCBC Bank told Malaysian journalists Malaysian exports only comprised 0.33% of the country’s outward shipments in 2021.

Imports of Russian goods comprised 0.5% of Malaysian imports. However, Ukraine wheat imports have been important with Malaysia importing $72.3 million’s worth of wheat from Ukraine in 2020, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a US-based economic data service.

Indonesia is even more reliant on Ukrainian wheat supplies. According to US-funded south-east Asian news service Benar News, in 2020 Ukraine exported $708 million’s worth of cereals to Indonesia and last year the country imported 3.07 million tonnes of wheat from Ukraine and 2,955 tonnes from Russia, according to the Asian Financial Review.

With Ukraine’s major farm industry seriously disrupted by the war, Indonesia may need to look to alternatives. This could include Australia, from which it imported 4.6 million tonnes of wheat in 2021, and potentially Russia as Indonesia refused to impose sanctions despite voting to condemn its invasion of Ukraine at the UN General Assembly.

In March, as its armed forces penetrated the territory of its neighbour, Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva stressed the country had improved its production capacity since 2014 and claimed its production was competitive with Australia.

“We are not only prepared to supply wheat, but we are ready to supply beef or chicken to Indonesia,” she said.

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In Malaysia, a cartel was accused in December 2020 by anonymous whistle-blowers speaking to Malay-language daily Sinar Harian of allegedly bribing customs officials for 40 years to import frozen meat (including kangaroo and horse meat, although these claims were subsequently played down by the Malaysian government) from China, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina. It was declared as halal but was not slaughtered according to Islamic customs or sourced from approved stakeholders before being repackaged as halal beef. Three executives of Syarikat LY Frozen Food Sdn Bhd, the company implicated in alleged fraud, were subsequently charged with money laundering offences and violations of trade descriptions legislation. The trial continues and an arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth executive, who remains at large.

Other high profile examples have included the conviction in 2015 of the owner of a US-based meat exporter, Midamar, found guilty of fraudulently misrepresenting beef sold to Malaysia and Indonesia as halal. In Australia, whistle-blowing reports of abattoirs revealed exploitation of workers and failure to follow halal practices for poultry and other meat destined for Malaysia.

Rising demand equals more scams

According to the UK-based Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC), practices such as mislabelling and contamination have increased with growing consumption of halal products. The certification organisation was established in 2003 to uphold standards for halal food produced and sold in the UK

"There are a lot of imported products in the UK that come in from the global supply chain, the majority of which are from non-majority Muslim countries. Nobody has visibility on those products and whether they conform to the UK Muslim community's expectations," said Nadeem Adam, HMC operations director. 

Because demand for halal products outstrips supply, and because halal meat is more expensive than non-halal (due to labour, inspection and certification costs), unscrupulous suppliers have the opportunity to introduce haram products into the halal supply chain, Adam said. 

Other contributors to the problem, according to Ali Abdallah, independent scientist and halal fraud expert based in Bari, Italy, are the "multiplicity of halal standards, (and) disagreements between halal certification (and accreditation) bodies" about what constitutes halal.

This means a product that has been produced to halal standards in one country may not be considered halal by a different country. And while "these circumstances are more about consumer expectations than actual fraud," explained Adam, the grey areas they create can be exploited by scammers.

Fraud issues in the USA and UK

In the USA, where there is no federal regulation of halal food production, the certification process is performed by third-party certifiers based on differing requirements and their own interpretations of religious tenets, said Melissa McKendree, assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (AFRE) at Michigan State University. McKendree is supervising a research project supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help the US meat industry improve halal certification and pinpoint potential anti-fraud solutions.

In the UK, much of suspected fraud occurs at the point of slaughter. HMC does not endorse any form of stunning (where the animal is rendered unconscious, by electric shock or other methods, before it is killed) as part of the slaughter process. However, HMC believes meat produced using various stunning (as well as non-halal compliant non-stunning) methods are being labelled and sold as halal in the UK.

Other non-halal practices occur further down the supply chain. In recent years, there have been reports from across the world of traces of pork DNA reportedly being found in meat (and even confectionary) products labelled as halal. Meanwhile, analysis of halal-marked poultry products has shown the water used in “pumping-up” chickens contains proteins of porcine origin.

HMC attempts to combat fraud by only certifying products that meet its halal standards. It uses a patented certification mark, distinct from the generic halal 'logo' (the word ‘halal’ written in Arabic and presented as a symbol), that its more than 1,000 member shops, butchers and takeaways display as a sign to consumers that their products conform to HMC's ‘farm to fork’ halal criteria.

But while such measures may help consumers make informed decisions about what to buy, they do little to tackle malpractice.

Challenges to curbing fraud

A major barrier to stamping out fraud is the difficulty of enforcing halal standards.  The problem arises in non-majority Muslim countries like the US, where the sector is not legally regulated and halal and non-halal supply chains have many opportunities to merge, according to Kelsey Hopkins, who is leading the AFRE research project into halal meat production. 

HMC similarly admits that in the UK, where halal meat makes up approximately 7% (according to HMC estimates) of the country’s combined beef, lamb and chicken supply, it does not have the power to take action when there is suspected crossover with the overwhelming majority of non-halal meat.

"The UK does not have a halal standard, so if somebody suspected that a store was selling something that was not halal-compliant, there is very little we can do," Adam said. 

In countries without halal food regulations, the industry usually has to rely on other consumer protection and trading standards legislation to prosecute anyone suspected of fraud or misrepresentation. "EU countries actually contain all the instruments required to resolve most of these problems," said Abdallah. He also notes the existence of "ethical/moral fraud," where products which do not require halal certification, such as olive oil, are labelled halal to take advantage of gullible consumers. This is different from "legal fraud" where a product is misrepresented, he said.

But legal halal food fraud is extremely difficult to detect, due to the challenge of testing products and inspecting practices at every stage of intricate and increasingly international supply chains.

Fraud issues in Muslim majority countries

Even in Muslim majority countries, where the halal food sector is typically regulated and governments have powers to take enforcement measures against fraudulent producers and retailers, fraud is still a major issue.

In Malaysia, responsibility for halal certification is governed by the Halal Hub Division, a special department set up by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM). It is an offence in Malaysia to label products as halal without authorisation from JAKIM, and accredited enforcement agencies are authorised to suspend or revoke business licences of those who misuse or falsify halal certifications. Those found to have breached the rules may be prosecuted.

But the recent revelations about a long standing fraud cartel shows that regulations are only as good as their implementation. Media reports at the time the scandal was discovered linked JAKIM officials to the corrupt practices (although this was denied by the authority) and Abdallah cites the "weakness of the authorities in ensuring the integrity of halal certification, and involvement with politics and religion" as factors undermining the successful policing of halal food standards. 

In recognition of the difficulty of policing halal food standards in a globalised world, efforts have been made to internationalise standards.

Harmonising standards

According to Abdallah, the international halal standard involving the greatest number of Muslim countries (57 in total, with a combined population of 1.6 billion) is the OIC/SMIIC 1:2011, containing the general guidelines on halal food. The SMIIC standard is a joint initiative between the Saudi Arabia-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and the Turkey-headquartered Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries (SMIIC).

In May 2011, this standard defined the basic requirements at any stage of the food chain, such as receiving, preparation, labelling, processing, packaging control, transport, distribution, storage and service of halal food based on Sharia rules.

Other attempts to harmonise the halal market include the efforts of the World Halal Food Council (WHFC) and the International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF).

Technology to the rescue?

To support these standards, technology is increasingly seen as the key to detecting and stamping out halal food fraud.

Following the December 2020 cartel scandal, Malaysia's JAKIM announced plans to improve the recognition of foreign halal certification bodies by adding on-pack QR codes and digitising halal certificates to reduce the risk of duplication.

A team at China's Sichuan University is evaluating a DNA sequencing technology known as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) to replace unreliable protein testing and expensive quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) DNA testing in food authentication.

Elsewhere, researchers at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University's Halal Science Centre have developed a chromatography-based strip test that can detect DNA from forbidden meats.

In the Netherlands, researchers at Wageningen University & Research and a separate team at Iran's Islamic Azad University Tehran Science and Research Branch are investigating the possibility of using infra-red technology, which can be deployed using hand-held devices, to check meat. Also, food supply chain technology specialists, such as Singapore-based digital B2B platform OneAgrix, are introducing blockchain solutions to track meat from slaughter to the point-of-sale to the consumer.

With the mounting purchasing power of younger, larger generations of Muslim consumers, and growing competition between retailers, from supermarkets to fast food services, more attention is being paid to what influences consumer choice in the halal food sector.

One of the aims of the AFRE project at Michigan State University is to establish whether demand to know the provenance of halal products is strong enough to warrant additional investment in fraud prevention. 

"This project can help supply chain members deduce if consumer willingness to pay for halal certified foods outweighs the potential costs of adopting new traceability and verification technology to ensure proper certification,” said Hopkins.

For HMC, the issue is to do with education and awareness, rather than any question over the willingness of consumers to pay for genuine halal products. "From a consumer perspective, it's about a journey," Adam said, pointing to a July 2020 study by the UK's Bristol University that surveyed the buying behaviours of 250 Muslims and found that 70% of those questioned preferred to buy non-stunned meat. 

"When people start to think about this issue, they do some research and want to learn more about how to choose genuine halal products. We get calls from people who want to understand what the risks are, what to look out for and how to make choices that meet their expectations," he said.

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