HALAL IN THE SKY

When Malaysia Airlines (MAS) subsidiary MAS Catering first started its Halal program way back in 1978, little did they realize how significant their work is to the global airline industry. Its perfect Halal processes for airlines caught the attention of the world’s largest in-flight meal provider, Germany-based LSG Lufthansa Service Holdings AG. Thus in 2003, LSG together with Brahim International Franchise bought over 70 per cent of MAS catering in a strategic move to dominate the Halal airline food business.

Now known as LSG-Skychefs-Brahims Sdn Bhd (LSGB), the company forms part of an expansive global catering network in more than 48 countries serving 173 airports. LSGB’s ‘Halal Excellence Centre’ is responsible for Halal meals on board 25 airlines, including Cathay Pacific, FedEx, Emirates and Thai Airways. Nevertheless, eighty percent of their revenue still comes from Malaysia Airlines.

Aside from ensuring all their meals ex-KLIA are Halal, LSGB’s Halal Excellence Centre’ is also in charged of handling any request from their overseas office to set up new Halal kitchens. The team has since established 12 Halal kitchens worldwide, with four granted a full Halal kitchen status while the remaining has partial Halal sections.

Strategic partnership for Halal

“This (partnership) is to me, a strategic move by LSG and Malaysia Airlines,” said Mohd Zaki Omar, deputy general manager of LSG Sky Chefs-Brahim’s Sdn Bhd.

“LSG is the biggest airline catering company in the world and they want to capture Halal segment. One of the best ways was to aquire the knowledge and technology that existed within Brahim’s and MAS catering.

MAS Catering have been implementing Halal since 1978. By acquiring part of their shares, LSGB was instantly elevated to being the Halal ‘reference centre’ for all of their existing 200 in-flight kitchens worldwide. The Brahim’s brand name is known internationally for its quality sources and has won various awards.

“And it works both ways. We also make full use of the LSG’s hygiene institute in Frankfurt,” Mohd Zaki added.

Holistic approach to Halal

In general, LSGB has adopted three major guidelines to form an integrated Halal solution. The first is the Malaysian General Guidelines on Halal, which include the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) Halal certification as well as the new MS1500:2004. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Codex Alimentarius Commission forms the second component while the Malaysia Airlines’ Halal Standard forms the final piece of the LSGB’s Halal mechanism (see graphics).

Invariably, each component would have its own set of operating procedures and it is this amalgamation of HACCP, GMP, GHP, HAP, HCP, ISO, Codex Alimentarius, JAKIM Halal certification, and the Malaysia Halal Standard MS1500:2004 that will form a culture that governs their daily tasks.

“We realise that we cannot impose Halal upon everybody,” said Abdul Aziz Mohamad, Chairman Halal Excellence Centre, LSG Sky Chefs-Brahim’s Sdn Bhd.

“What we have done is to follow all the existing standards recognised all over the world, fuse it together with Halal and have one truly complete system,” he added.

Currently operating on a three shift pattern within their 60,000 sq metre facility, 658 operation staff and 612 operation staff churns out an average of 31,000 meals a day and this figure increases up to 42,000 during peak seasons. Fully loaded, the centre is able to handle a maximum of 45,000 meals per day and each of these meals has to go through a strict Halal Control Process (HCP) from farm to fork (read story on HCP).

Roles and responsibilities

In satisfying the passenger’s appetite for exquisite Halal food, LSGB spells out and distinguishes the roles and responsibilities of each supporting members within the team. It covers the roles of caterer and supplier, customer and consumer as well as LSG Sky Chef’s corporate role.

“As a caterer, we are responsible and accountable for producing Halal and toyyibbah food,” Abdul Aziz emphasized, “and this is done together with the supplier. We stress this from the very beginning, because we want the suppliers to be responsible in ensuring that all ingredients within their products are derived from 100% Halal origin.”

Continuous re-education for their suppliers is held on regular intervals, to explain the best Halal standards and practices so that the suppliers themselves can detect possible problems, instead of LSGB doing the full fledge screening. The company also assumes the responsibility as a caterer to educate and inform their consumers (end-users) and their customers (clients) on Halal food’s best practices to enable them to make selective choices.

“Most importantly, we have also established the program’s policies and strategies to ensure effective surveillance and enforcement of Halal food standards and guidelines, not just for Malaysia but also for any LSG kitchen operations all over the world. This is essentially the gist of functions of our Halal Excellence Centre.”

Modernising the Halal Industry

LSG Sky Chef’s approach to promote a Halal culture within the global in-flight catering industry was never destined to take off had it not been for their universal approach in selling Halal.

LSGB’s Halal Control Points (HCP)

To ensure that there are no loopholes within their Halal procedure, LSGB has initiated four check points even before the cooking starts to eliminate any possible breaches. This way, according to Abdul Aziz, “anybody can audit us any time they wish”.

· HCP 1 – Production Chef with Central Procurement will list down all items and ingredients needed for sampling. Each ingredient will be detailed out to avoid any hidden alcohol or Haram animal origin.

· HCP 2 – All raw materials are then sourced and purchased from Halal suppliers that have received Halal Certificate.

· HCP 3 – All products and ingredients listed (especially animal products and its derivatives) are compulsory to comply with Halal Standard certified by JAKIM or Local Islamic Authority.

· HCP 4 – During receiving of raw materials, quality control personnel will check the items are as per stated in the contract and strictly Halal. The transport use to deliver items are also checked not used for non Halal item and look cleaned and sanitized.

Behind the scenes of how your in-flight meal gets prepared

Ever wondered how those neat casserole dishes filled with good food gets prepared and ready for your enjoyment? It involved the systematic and concerted effort from 1,774 staff working in clockwork precision within three shifts a day, solely for your sheer eating pleasure.

1. Purchasing. Raw materials purchased are subjected to a Raw Material Process Flow, in accordance with their Halal Control Point (HCP) system.

2. Receiving & Storage. Wet and dry raw materials are delivered to warehouse via ordering system and sorted according to the HACCP standard. Perishables are then stored in a freezer room while non perishables are either stored in boxes or pallets within a 3-storey hi-bay area (max 3,000) or bins (max 14,000).

3. Production. Cooks will prepare and set all the meals. Kitchens are divided into four main areas: hot, cold, pastry and special meals (kosher, vegetarian, low fat, low sugar meals etc). All Hot meals are then blast chilled in bulk to 5 degrees Celsius, which takes approximately 4 hours and then stored in the Food Bank where it will wait to be apportioned for a maximum of 24 hours.

4. Dishing. As the order comes up, two workers will apportion all prepared meals into the small casserole dishes. They are subjected to a “precision timing” of no more than 45 minutes per flight.

5. Tray setting and assembly. After dishing, the casserole dishes are packed into trays. Hot meals are loaded into oven racks while cold dishes and pastries are assembled onto trays and stored onto the meal carts. Complete meal carts are then cold soaked for 4 hours before the STD (Standard Time Departure).

6. Load and served. Ready meal carts are then loaded into aircraft using hi lifts and stored in the aircraft’s galley. Flight attendants will then reheat the hot meals on board the aircraft and served to the passengers.

7. Feedback. The clients will communicate directly with LSGB’s Marketing & Sales department on any inputs and the overall process will repeat once this is done.

Halal Warewash Washing machine (samak)

Innovation is vital in any industry for it to continue progressing. One of the best examples of Halal innovation within the airline catering industry is the development of a Halal dish washing machine, or samak, to clean equipments and cutleries that were used by non-Halal airline caterers.

Samak is a religious cleansing process that purifies anything that comes into contact with non-Halal materials. The established methodology is to first clean the item using one part clay (or clean dirt) and then rinse it with seven parts of water (or equivalent to 270 litres).

Conceptualised by LSGB’s Halal Excellence Centre and developed by an in-house team from Germany, the Halal dish washing machine looks just like any other industrial washing machine, except for one key feature – it is fitted with a clay powder dispenser.

The only one in the world at the moment, this Halal dish washing machine shoots of a jet stream of dry clean clay powder, or aluminium silicate to satisfy the first stage of the cleansing process. Then, the equipments and cutlery are washed, rinsed and finally blow dried as they normally would. It is now ready to be reused by Muslims.