General Questions
Halal is an Arabic word meaning lawful or permitted. The opposite of halal is haram, which means unlawful or prohibited. Halal and haram are universal terms that apply to all facets of life but this discussion will be limited to food products, meat products, cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, and food contact materials.
While many things are clearly halal or haram, there are some things which are not clear. Further information is needed to categorize them as halal or haram. Such items are often referred to as mashbooh, which means doubtful or questionable.
All foods are considered halal except the following sources:
- Swine/Pork and its by-products
- Animals NOT properly slaughtered according to Islamic method or dead before slaughtering
- Alcoholic drinks and intoxicants
- Carnivorous animals and birds of prey
- Blood and blood by-products
Foods contaminated with any materials from above categories
Foods containing ingredients such as gelatin, enzymes, emulsifiers, and flavors are questionable (mashbooh), because the origin of these ingredients or components thereof, may be haram
Meat and poultry should be processed according to Islamic requirements. This is commonly referred to as Zabiha or Dhabiha. Zabiha refers to slaughtering of an animal or bird by a Muslim according to Islamic requirements.
Halal Certification is the processes of having a qualified independent third party supervise the production of consumables, attesting that they were produced in conformity with the preparation and ingredient standards of the halal lifestyle. After successful adoption and performance of halal productivity procedures, the supervisory third party then issues Halal Certification to the producer attesting to halal conformity on a per product basis.
Halal Certification is required to produce acceptable food and consumable products for halal consumers. That includes the 1.4 billion Muslims in the world and the many millions of others who also choose to eat halal products because of the obvious positive health benefits associated with the cleanliness and purity of food and drug preparation within the halal framework as well as the compassion with which animals are slaughtered when done so in accordance with halal standards.
ISO 9000 is another quality management system that fits in well with the concept of halal. Implementing ISO 9000 demonstrates the producer's desire to produce consistent quality products. When implementing a Halal Certification program, the certifying agency will incorporate specific halal procedures within the ISO procedures. ISO alone does not make a product halal, and a halal product can be made without ISO.
The market for halal-certified products is huge and growing. It includes the 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide and many millions of health-conscious non-Muslims who chose to eat halal-certified products because these products are inherently clean and manufactured in a compassionate manner with respect to the treatment of slaughtered animals. (When animals are slaughtered in a less compassionate manner, hormones and toxins from fear and shock are released into the respective bloodstreams of the animals; these hormones and toxins find their way into the musculature and taint the aft-consumed meat with unnecessary ingredients.) There are over 9 million Muslims in North America, over 20 million in Europe, over 300 million in Africa, nearly 200 million in the Middle East and over 800 million in Asia