In a Memorandum in the context of the forthcoming General Elections, launched at a Press Conference on the 17th Oct. 2024, the Muslim Citizen Council (MCC) requested the coming government to set up a ‘Halal Food Authority’ (HFA), that will have powers to ensure that food items offered on sale to consumers, in Super Markets, Stores, Food Outlets, Restaurants and Hotels are genuinely Halal.
The unit could be set up within the Sanitary Division of the Ministry of Health to ensure that food items are properly labelled with a view to facilitating consumers in their choice between Halal, Vegetarian, Non-Halal, and Non-Vegetarian food items. The HFA that will have powers to sue and remove Operating Licenses of the defaulters.
In spite of the Halal Label on food stuff, certain questions remained unanswered. How certain are we that the food we eat is Halaal? Can we trust that when we see a Halaal logo at a food or eating establishment, it is Halaal?
We need to be grateful to our Halaal Certifiers, who have for years served the community with their means on board. However, certain pertinent questions arise. Can we believe the local Halaal certifying bodies, self-proclaimed custodians of Halaal and self-proclaimed collectors of Halaal revenues, who do not share with the Muslim populace ‘their’ criteria used to determine Halaal because it is their ‘intellectual property’, when they say that the foods, products and establishments, from ‘Farm to the Fork’ certified by them are completely Halaal? Is Halaal integrity maintained from the point of production (Farm) to the point of consumption (Fork)?
Can we believe them? If yes, on what basis do we believe them? What empirical assurance is provided to the Muslim community to instill confidence and trust in Halaal certification. Coping with the aforementioned questions at individual, household and community levels is incumbent upon all if we are to comply, as individuals and as a collective, with the numerous Quranic and Prophetic injunctions on Halaal.
Maintaining Halaal integrity from farm-to-fork requires that every step in the production of a food or product through to its final point of sale and / or consumption complies with all Halaal requirements. The Halaal requirements in each step of production constitute Halaal integrity indicators or control points that would have to be complied with.
Any non-compliance along the process constitutes a break in the chain and a lapse in Halaal integrity, which renders the Halaal status of the food or product at the point of sale or consumption, suspect. This value chain framework is a chain of interlinked activities that models the food production and delivery process by mapping each activity involved in the making of a particular product.
Other pertinent questions arise, however. Was the feed and veterinary medicine that was fed to the animal Halaal? Was the animal stunned before slaughter? If so, was bolt stunning used? Bolt stunning involves shooting a bolt through the skull of the animal, and is universally rejected by most local and all major global Halaal authorities.
Was the carcass inspected for any signs of disease or infection after slaughtering? Was the slaughter compliant with shariah requirements? Was the slaughtering, processing, storage and transportation done in a dedicated Halaal facility separated from any non-Halaal products and/ or potential contaminants?
At the retail and food outlets, was the meat or meat-based product stored, displayed, prepared and/ or served in accordance with Halaal requirements?
If any of the aforementioned questions cannot be answered satisfactorily by the Halaal certifying body, there is a break in Halaal integrity in that one or more Halaal critical control points cannot be attested to. Consequently, the Halaal status of the meat or meat-based product is considered suspect.
Consequently, kudos to the MCC that has come forward with a strong plea to the coming government to set up a ‘Halal Food Authority’. The issue of licenses by the HFA should be made on an annual contractual basis by licensing the provider, after auditing and inspecting ingredients, method of manufacture and process together with packaging and labelling. Hi-Tech expertise is required to conduct these inspections. Therefore, regular courses on food production and related technologies, keeping abreast of the constantly changing advancements in the food industry should be launched.
Not only will the HFA be benefiting for the Muslim end-user, but will also give an opportunity to the manufacturer/provider to be orientated with Muslim requirements and expand their market.
The HFA should educate Muslim consumers about Halal status of food products. A Comprehensive List of Halal food product in supermarkets should be made available and handy. The main duty of the HFA would be to cooperate with the relevant institutions, both official and non-governmental, in doing its work of controlling the distribution of food and drugs for Muslims.
In line with the Government policy to make Mauritius a food hub, there will be indeed a growing interest in the food industry for Halal Certified food products and ingredients, for both the domestic and foreign markets, where the HFA will find its importance. While there are about 0.3 million Muslim consumers, the majority of product development technologists and scientists in this country do not have enough information about the specific requirements for Halal certification of food products and ingredients.
Bashir Nuckchady
