Halal misunderstanding could cost export dollars warns food industry expert

Social media users have reacted strongly to a pie maker’s decision to make some products Halal certified and there are concerns the outburst could cost export dollars.

The company’s Facebook page shows that consumers are more engaged on the issue of introducing Halal products than with complaints regarding product faults, including pies without meat and a sausage roll baked with a piece of string inside.

A biscuit company also recently faced criticism after producing a Halal certified Anzac biscuit.

The backlash against Halal products is worrying some Australian food suppliers, who fear it could cost the nation export deals.

Halal Australia is one of 17 Halal certification businesses in Australia and it recently featured a section on their website clarifying misconceptions about Halal.

It clearly states that Halal food has no connection with terrorism in any way.

“You can easily clarify this matter. We’re happy to cooperate with any legitimate people or any legitimate authorities,” Dr Mohammad Khan, Halal Australia’s chief executive, said.

“We have regulatory bodies like the Australian Tax Office, the Federal Police, ASIO – everybody is doing their job. If we had any issues they would have come back to us about things being done.

“This is the only country to my knowledge that is involved in making this kind of propaganda, just for nothing. It’s so counter-productive, it’s a waste of time and energy and money.”

The many misconceptions about Halal

In order for meat products to be certified as Halal, a strict process must be followed in the slaughtering procedure.

Critics accuse the Halal process as being cruel, but industry experts deny that there is any extra brutality involved in the butchery.

Dr Andreas Dubbs is the executive director of the Australian Chicken Meat Federation, which works with chicken suppliers such as Bendigo’s Hazeldenes.

“In Australia, Halal chicken is still stunned in the same way as it would be in any other process and it’s unconscious before it’s bled,” he said.

“Sometimes people think Halal chicken means that these animals are suffering.

“They’re actually slaughtered in exactly the same way. There’s a Muslim person overseeing the slaughtering, that’s about it.”

He said during his 10 years in the industry, little has changed in regards to Halal procedures, aside from the public perception of it.

“There is a group of people who associate Halal with killing without stunning because that’s what is done in some countries,” Dr Dubbs said.

“But in Australia it’s killed under the same animal welfare conditions and requirements. There’s nothing on that side that’s any different

Exports could suffer warns Halal executive

Food certified as Halal is big business for Australian companies who export to countries like the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Egypt and Qatar.

Dr Khan is blunt about what could happen to the export industry if protests against Halal become louder.

“If we didn’t have this Halal certification, Australia wouldn’t be selling high-quality products to the overseas market,” Dr Khan said.

“If the importing countries get the message that Australia is basically anti-Muslim, anti-Halal and anti-Islam, they’ll go somewhere else, believe me.

“There are 123 abattoirs all across Australia, if they lose the [export] market, that’s not a healthy thing to think about.”

Dr Khan said clearer information surrounding the Halal certification process in Australia would help, but it has to occur at the highest level, rather than from small organisations like Halal Australia.

“This hasn’t been dealt with appropriately,” he said.

“The government should step in and clarify this kind of misconception in the Australian population and then it can stop right there.

“It’s not healthy for the national interests or the economic interests.

“Creating this kind of phobia is not helpful for anyone, and our children will suffer in the future.”

See more on this Topic