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Last Updated: Sep 25th, 2006 - 11:36:04 |
Halal Organic – the Next Wave?
As the consumers of Halal produce become inevitably more discerning and health-conscious, we have observed an increasing interest in Halal organic foods. Reminding producers that their produce must be Tayyib (wholesome) as well as Halal (lawful), this small but growing consumer voice is looking to push Halal to the next level. Is this just a consumer fad, or if this the future of the Halal food industry.
In the 1970’s, the suggestion that you would soon be able to buy a full range of organic produce in your neighbourhood Tesco’s would have been greeted with disbelief and derision. And yet, as is so often the case, the fringe becomes absorbed into the mainstream by the simple and compelling dynamics of the bottom line.
Make no mistake, there is money to be made in organics. 39% of the US population uses organic products, spending upwards of USD 8 billion in 2001 after 20-24% average growth rates throughout the 90’s. The global market for organics was estimated at USD 23 billion in 2002.
To illustrate the point, Whole Foods Inc, a one-store start-up in the 70’s, has blossomed into a USD 3.7 billion corporation with annual growth rates that make the average supermarket green with envy. The combined 5-year growth average for the retail grocery sector in the US (13%) is less than the worst single year at Whole Foods (14%), and their best year was 23%. Their new Manhattan store, with 59,000 sq ft of shelves and 468 employees, is the largest food retail store in the city. Welcome to the organic future.
As the supermarkets, in their insatiable quest for market share, having absorbed the organic and ethnic markets, turn their slightly astonished gaze towards the surprisingly large Halal sector, we can see the retail cycles repeating themselves. Mainstream Halal produce will go into the supermarkets, and the smaller retailers – and producers – will specialise in the organic, free-range, grass fed, health-conscious products. Halal and Tayyib.
Dr Salim Sumar of the UK Food Safety Authority quoted some interesting figures at a conference in KL in 2004. With less than 2 million Muslims in the UK, there are 6 million consumers of Halal meat. He attributed these figures to the BSE scandal in the 90’s, whereby UK consumers turned to Halal meat in the belief that it was healthier than the standard British product.
And not without reason. Having verified that BSE is spawned by feeding cows with rendered cattle offal, the question naturally arises, as you lift the fork to your mouth, “What was this steak eating when it was still a cow?” All to often, the answer it not a pleasant one.
The EU and the UK, following the massive cull of UK cattle, imposed a ban on the feeding of mammalian protein to ruminants, and the figures attest to the wisdom of this decision.
A UK Government report states, ‘The incidence of BSE in the UK has fallen sharply from a peak of 37,280 cases in 1992 to 343 in 2004, the majority of which were born before 1996. The “total feed ban”, which banned the feeding of processed animal protein to farmed animals, is considered effective in the UK as of 1 August 1996 and has led to an especially sharp fall in BSE cases in cattle born after July 1996.’
But in other countries things are not quite as straightforward. In the US, for example, the use of blood products in cattle feed, and especially in weaning formulas for calves, is still a widespread, and strongly defended practice. And be warned, it may not just be blood from cattle, it could be from porcine or avian sources also, as these are still legal and widespread practices in the US.
According to an Organic Consumers Association report, ‘In the United States and Canada cattle and especially calves are legally fed massive quantities of cattle blood and fat. Dairy calves are routinely weaned on calf starter and calf milk replacer containing cattle blood products such as bovine plasma, bovine serum and bovine red blood cells. The farcical "firewall feed ban" of 1997 is essentially a PR invention that specifically exempted the feeding of ruminant fat and blood to ruminants, allowing this dangerous practice to continue today.’
Although the US banned the use of rendered cow parts in cattle feed in the 1990's, it still permits rendered matter from cows to be fed to pigs and chickens, and rendered pigs and chickens to be fed back to cows. Critics say that in theory, that sequence could bring mad cow disease full circle, back to cows.
It goes without saying, that setting aside all the BSE-related dangers that are associated with these practices, for cattle destined for the Halal table should be, at the very least, vegetarian!
As US animal feed is an export product, it may well be used on cattle in other parts of the world. In addition, feed intended for export is not required to carry a caution label "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants," as would be required if the feed were sold domestically. Without that statement, feed containing prohibited material could be inadvertently given to foreign cattle. It would not be the first time that products that were banned at home were slipped into the export market.
As is usually the case with such matters as this, the consumer – should he or she bother themselves to investigate – is confronted with a bewildering array of scientific, legislative and industrial opinions, none of which are of much help as you stand in front of the meat counter doing the shopping.
In this respect, Halal is, properly speaking, the best solution. Or rather it should be. Currently it is only half the solution, for while Halal ensures a legal compliance with Shariah law, it is still all to often falling far short of being fully ‘Tayyib’. Halal without Tayyib is only half the answer.
However, Halal compliance, properly implemented, must take into account the entire process ‘from farm to fork’, and therefore must look into the matter of what the animals have been fed, not just how they have been slaughtered.
And here the Halal meat and poultry industry could take a leaf from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey (himself a vegetarian, but whose stores sell organic meat and poultry produce) whose position is that ‘before being consumed by humans, animals should at least be allowed, "to live out their fundamental animal nature."’
In 2001, IFANCA, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America carried out a poll asking consumers if they would be willing to pay more for organic Halal produce. 45% of respondents replied that they would pay between 25-50% more for organic and 15% were even prepared to pay double.
Our own discussions with UK Muslims indicated that while the older generation of predominantly Asian origin were more concerned with price than health and safety, the younger generation were actively concerned and on the lookout for Halal organic products – and generally unable to find them.
There has been some response from food producers in the UK and Halal organic produce can be found, albeit only after some hunting. However, the experience of one UK Halal food company has raised some interesting questions about the compatibility of Halal and organic standards, at least as defined by the guardians of UK organics, The Soil Association.
Muhammad Yaqoub, the Managing Director of National Halal Ltd, the Birmingham-based supplier of the Mr. Halal range, and a strong proponent of stun-free meat, applied to the Soil Association for organic status for his organically raised meats. He was informed, much to his surprise, that to obtain organic status, all livestock must be stunned prior to slaughter, and that unless he was prepared to comply with this stricture, organic status could not be obtained.
This is not a good sign. There is a strong, although not widely publicised, case against stunning. Based on the Hanover Veterinary School tests carried out in the 1980’s, stunning is far more traumatic for the animal than to have its throat slit after hearing Allah’s name mentioned. EEG and ECG monitoring showed that stunning produced extreme trauma, while Halal slaughter showed sleep patterns. That is to say, despite appearances, the Halal slaughtered animal looses consciousness before it could feel pain.
For the consumer, Halal slaughter results in better draining of blood, and therefore lower toxin and bacteria levels and longer shelf life for the meat. It is Tayyib as well as Halal.
As the current organic standards appear to be mixed with an understandable and no doubt well-meaning, but nevertheless misguided stance on animal welfare, it seems that to establish Halal organic standards, the Muslims will need to adapt the existing standards to suit their own needs. And why not?
With an abundance of grass-fed organically-raised cattle available, for example from Australia and Brazil, it would not require too much hoop-jumping to supply Halal organic beef and lamb.
There is no reason at all why the Muslim Halal standard authorities, or for that matter the producers themselves, should not create a new Halal Organic, (or Halal and Tayyib) standard.
It is likely – and I would go so far as to say inevitable – that over the course of time, market demand itself is likely to be the final determining factor as to when and how Halal organic standards develop.
Several factors seem poised to converge in the next phase of growth in the Halal market
• A steady rise in the general demand for organic produce is expected to continue into the next decade
• Halal foods are going to be stocked in the major supermarket chains, not just is Muslim countries, but in the EU and the US.
• The dangers associated with blood-based animal feeds will be more widely known
• Competition in the Halal market will force Halal producers to specialise and upgrade their products, bringing the proven advantages of organic, grass-fed, free-range Halal products onto the market.
• The average Halal consumer will become more discerning in taste and health-consciousness awareness
These factors will converge to open up the Halal food market into a more diversified and sophisticated market to satisfy the ever-changing demand of the consumers.
And if the example of Whole Foods Inc is anything to go by, whoever gets into pole position on this particular track is likely to reap some handsome rewards over the long term.
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