Dr Mike North, Site Manager at Taranaki Bio Extracts, notes there is also strong demand from Muslim communities within western countries who aren’t predominantly Muslim by culture.
“In countries like Indonesia, product must be halal to be able to export there. There are a number of other countries like this, but Indonesia is the key halal market that we supply.
“However we also have customers in non-Muslim countries who are keen to purchase our ingredient because it is halal. For example, we have customers in Korea, USA and Australia that use our ingredient so they are able to market their products as halal. One customer purchases our halal product and packages it differently from other broth they source from non-halal manufacturers. Their halal product is sold online and is very popular with Muslim consumers,” says Dr Mike North, Site Manager.
According to the Halal Food Council USA ‘Halal’ is an Arabic word that means ‘allowed’ or ‘lawful’. Halal foods are foods that are allowed and encouraged by the Muslim scripture – the Qur’an. Under Islamic law, eating is a method of worship or prayer which is why it’s so important for Muslims to consume halal foods.
Two main aspects that confirm whether or not food is halal include:
- Foods that have been processed, created, or stored using equipment that has been cleansed under Islamic law
- Foods that do not contain any ‘haram’ elements – haram is an Arabic word that means not allowed or unlawful.
In general, all foods are considered to be halal unless specifically stated to be haram. Foods that are haram include pork products (bacon, ham, etc) and alcohol. At Taranaki Bio Extracts they do not process any pork products or use alcohol – in fact all products are manufactured to support halal.
All of Taranaki Bio Extracts’ animal products that are either moved internally within New Zealand or exported, come with a health certificate which confirms the product is halal. If you want halal recognition you must be registered with MPI (Ministry of Primary Industries) as being halal. It’s very similar to an export market listing – a business must submit a formal application to MPI and then comply with all requirements for being halal or exporting to a certain market.
“Any halal products that we manufacture must only use ingredients and raw materials that are halal. We have specific meat processors that we source our raw materials from. We work on the principle that if all our raw material is halal then all of our finished products are halal – it makes it a lot more practicable for us,” says Dr Mike North.
Mike points out that interestingly overall New Zealand has done a very good job at harmonising animal welfare and halal practice – the process of halal slaughter in New Zealand caters very strongly to animal welfare practices.
“This is a smart way of doing it – dealing with the welfare issue but still being able to deliver to Halal markets,” says Dr Mike North.
Taranaki Bio Extracts is also licensed by NZIDT (New Zealand Islamic Development Trust), a certification which is separate from that held with MPI. There are multiple agencies that can certify for halal and NZIDT is just one of them. A business chooses a halal certifier depending on which market(s) they cover – NZIDT is certified for Indonesia, among other markets, which is why it is key for Taranaki Bio Extracts.
“Within our RMP (Risk Management Programme) we also have a halal programme. This covers important aspects such as ensuring we have halal certification for all the raw materials used when we develop a new product.
“For markets receiving halal products even when halal is not a matter of concern, they are receiving a premium product due to the food safety and animal welfare components integral to halal certifications,” says Dr Mike North.
Ends . . .
References:
- Kerry Digest: 4 reasons the Halal industry is booming.
- Halal Food Council USA