Kuala Lumpur, Jan 23 - Muslim nations should create a global standard for the halal food industry because its potential is being held back by conflicting religious rulings on what Muslims can eat, a Malaysian industry leader said.
Islam bans some foods such as pork and requires others to be prepared in certain ways to be deemed halal, or permitted. But there are many contentious issues in the halal food industry, currently estimated by Malaysia to be worth $547 billion.
Khairy Jamaludin, who is spearheading mainly Muslim Malaysia's push into halal food and consumer goods, said the industry potential was enormous, with the world's Muslim population of 1.6 billion projected to almost double by 2010.
"There should be industry-driven global halal standards as opposed to some cleric sitting somewhere and completely out of touch with private sector and the food industry, deciding on what is halal and what isn't," Khairy told reporters on Monday at the launch of an upcoming global forum to discuss the halal industry.
Khairy is chairman of the World Halal Forum, to be held in Kuala Lumpur in May, and son-in-law of the Malaysian prime minister, who is an Islamic scholar.
PRAGMATIC APPROACH
Khairy said educating Muslim clerics on the needs of a global industry would not be easy, citing seafood as an example.
Some clerics regard all seafood as halal while others believe lobster, shrimp and eels are not, he said. Opinions also differed on whether seafood was halal when caught live or found dead.
Even food containing emulsifiers, gelatine and enzymes are subject to debates between the food industry and clerics because the origins of these ingredients are not always known.
"A lot of science and research needs to go into this," said Khairy, adding that clerics need to fully examine the origins of additives and food processing methods before issuing religious edicts on the halal status of different foods.
The halal forum will gather experts, industry and government officials from more than 30 countries and will discuss the possibility of a certified global standard for halal food.
In calling for clerics not to stand in the way of such a standard, Khairy underlined the relatively pragmatic approach taken by Muslims in Southeast Asia compared with the Middle East.
"It shouldn't be one academy or one academic somewhere in Saudi Arabia coming up with what is halal or not because these people have no clue on what goes into processing foods," he said.
Even where halal rulings are consistent, they can conflict with other industry standards, such as in slaughtering cattle.
Thoracic sticking -- a procedure where a slaughtered cow is stabbed in the chest to make it die faster -- is not deemed to be halal by clerics, but major beef-exporters like Australia and New Zealand say it is a more humane and efficient.
While Malaysia's Islamic authorities have been working with foreign abattoirs to overcome the problem, Middle East countries prefer to import live cattle and slaughter the beasts themselves.
"There needs to be a greater understanding of the various aspects of halal accreditation, of such products and service, as well as ensuring that there can be uniformity and homogeneity in the application of halal standards, globally," Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said in a speech this week.