Business
PAKISTAN: Halal meat and beef
Out of the total global market of Halal meat and beef worth $2.95 billion, the share of Pakistan is only $153.826 million or 5.21 percent. The shares of global Halal meat of Brazil, India and Australia are 54 percent, 11 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively. All our neighbouring Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran and Afghanistan are dependent on imported Halal meat and beef and Pakistan can increase its share if Halal meat and beef is exported rather than exporting live animals.
Food giant Nestle celebrates 100 years
Good health was on the minds of the thousands of people who turned up to celebrate Nestle’s 100 Years in Malaysia. The “Nestle 100 Years Celebration” event, which was held at Dataran Merdeka, featured a 2.7km-long Nestle Family Walkathon as well as the arrangement of 10,000 lunchboxes filled with Nestle food products to form a Jalur Gemilang.
MALAYSIA: More Malaysian-Made Halal Products now in Hypermarkets under HDC-MDTCC Lead
Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) today announced that the door is now wide open for Malaysian Halal certified companies, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (Halal SMEs) to consider being long-term suppliers to big hypermarkets in the country, namely Giant, AEON Jusco, Carrefour and Mydin. This development has been made possible with the introduction of the Halal Vendor Development Programme (HVDP) a joint initiative by HDC and the Ministry of Domestic Trade Cooperatives & Consumerism (MDTCC).
MALAYSIA: Global potential for Halal industry
Entrepreneurs need to grab the opportunities in the Halal industry which has huge potential in the global market, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. The country’s exports of Halal products have gone up from RM23.1bil in 2010 to RM35.4bil as of last year, he said.
THAILAND: Keeping an eye on visitors from region, Thailand tourism takes the Halal route
Bangkok is moving in the direction of having its world-renowned spa establishments and treatments, “conform to Halal regulations,” in a move to lure more tourists from the Middle East. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)-International Marketing deputy governor and in-charge of the European, African, Middle East and American markets Juthaporn Rerngronasa, during her recent visit to Dubai, said this is one of the novel ideas the government is undertaking.
Filed Under: Tourism
KENYA: Arab Buyer Says Local Meat Expensive in Dubai
A major importer of meat and its products from Kenya, Blue Mountain Food Trading, has warned that Kenya may lose market in the United Arab Emirates because its products are expensive. The company's chairman, Khalifa Suhel Al Safini, yesterday said he is worried that Kenyan meat prices in UAE are higher than those from its competitors.
Filed Under: Trade & Investment
U.S.A: Halal meets kosher in health-food aisle
Muslims and Jews are advancing, at different rates, toward new breakthroughs in frozen pepperoni pizza. Daniel Gryfe, the 24-year-old operations chief of Gryfe’s Kosher Bakery near Toronto, launched a frozen kosher pizza in the U.S. last year. Now he is at work on the next model: pizza with soy-milk cheese and veggie pepperoni. Neither milk nor meat, it would satisfy not only Jews who keep kosher, but also vegans and the lactose intolerant. “We’re the first kosher pizza to go after the mass market,” says Mr. Gryfe. “We’ve got stone-ground, whole-grain crust.”
European Union Calls on Packaging Industry to Help Limit Food Waste
Ninety million tons of food is wasted each year in the European Union, and food waste is expected to grow by 40 percent by 2020. The European Union has declared 2014 the European year against food waste and in the lead up, is examining the effects on food waste from food packaging. Within the industry, using fewer and more efficient materials for packaging has a positive impact on the costs of getting food packaged and into the grocery store. In the EU, new innovations in packaging are being developed to ensure that foods reach the store shelf long before the expiration date, which will prevent food being thrown away before consumers have a chance to purchase it. Organic material, including vegetables, fruit, and other foods naturally emit ethylene gas, which helps them mature but also facilitates the decomposition process. A special coating for corrugated cardboard can protect food from gases that trigger decomposition, minimizing losses when food is packaged, transported to grocery stores, and purchased by consumers. Another set of innovations includes smart packaging materials, such as a type of foil that can test the microbiology of what is contained in a package. This would indicate the freshness of the contents to the consumer more clearly by displaying important information about how ripe or fresh a product really is.
TURKEY: Arab tourists’ interest in Turkey increases, say tourism officials
Similarity between Turkish and Arab cuisine is one of the most significant factors for Arab tourists choosing Turkey as their holiday destination, according to officials from Arab tourism agencies, who visited Kastamonu and Sinop. Officials of tourism agencies from Arab countries visit the Black Sea provinces of Kastamou and Sinop, and explain the reason why Arabs choose to come to Turkey. Officials from tourism agencies from Arab countries have spoken about why their citizens chose to come to Turkey for holidays. Among the most important factors they detailed were the food, the shared history, the natural beauty, and religious similarities between Turkey and their home countries.
Filed Under: Tourism
'Halal sugar' launched in UAE
Warana Sugars, one of India's largest sugar sellers, has launched the 'world's first Halal certified sugar' in the UAE through its Middle East arm and is eyeing other Gulf markets. Keen to tap a booming market dominated by meat slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rituals, Warana is bagging up Halal-branded sweetener made without any powdered cow bones used by some sugar refiners. With this, Muslims in the Middle East will soon be able to sweeten their coffee and cakes with Halal sugar guaranteed to be free from burnt animal bone powder, said a top official.