Abstract
In recent years, halal certification has become an area of significant interest due to the high level of Muslim awareness about halal products, with the development of halal hubs and investments in Muslim countries. Unfortunately, the halal market is negatively affected by various factors, like the multiplicity of halal standards, disagreements between halal certification bodies and halal accreditation bodies, an increase in halal food crime in some countries, weakness of the authorities in ensuring the integrity of halal certification, and involvement with politics and religion, which have caused some anxiety among Muslim consumers. Therefore, the aim of this work is to inform lawmakers and animal welfare organisations in the EU regarding halal food. It shows data from literature regarding animal welfare in the EU and Islam, provides a critical consideration on the aim of a religious diet and its correlation with public health and food safety, and describes the state of the art of halal accreditation bodies (HAB) and halal certification bodies (HCB), in addition to providing information about gaps in the halal market, and a description of the unethical behaviour of some HCBs. The integrity of these bodies is necessary to make halal standards more comprehensive and efficient, and this can be achieved through the activation of a harmonised monitoring system for halal accreditation bodies in Muslim countries and national EU accreditation bodies.
Highlights
The halal market is negatively affected by various factors, like the multiplicity of halal standards, disagreements between halal certification bodies and halal accreditation bodies, an increase in halal food crime in some countries, weakness of the authorities in ensuring the integrity of halal certification, and involvement with politics and religion, which have caused some anxiety among Muslim consumers
Some halal accreditation bodies (HAB) do not perform accreditation outside their home country for more than one foreign halal certification bodies (HCB) in the same country due to monitoring difficulties, and other reasons that may be insufficiently clear. This policy gives the HCB a monopoly over its competitors, which impacts on the fairness of market competition and on halal producers. It increases the cost of halal certification, driving halal producers to increase the price of their halal products, which impacts the final link in the chain—the Muslim consumer
Halal food is produced according to Islamic law and should meet certain standards of HACCP and good manufacturing practice (GMP)
Summary
Halal in Arabic means that which is lawful, permissible, approved, and legal; the opposite of halal is haram, which means prohibited or forbidden, as defined in different verses of the Holy Quran: Received: 14 August 2021. “O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. He is to you a clear enemy.” (Quran 2:168). Muslims who follow Islamic dietary requirements should not eat pork or drink alcohol, and religious food certification has attracted the interest of many social scientists [2,3,4] and anthropologists [5] due to the increase in the demands of worldwide consumers. The first section of this paper contains a short introduction, and the second section provides data from literature regarding lawmakers and animal welfare in the EU in relation to halal food and animal welfare in Islam (Quran and Sunnah). The fifth section discusses the gaps in the halal market and the unethical behaviour of some HCBs, together with the latest updates on the halal market in Italy, and the sixth section contains the author’s conclusions
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