Muslim Market for `Halal’ Food Booms, Bringing Confusion, Some Fraud

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Tapping into a growing Muslim-American population, the market for food products lawful to eat under Islamic regulations has boomed, with some industry leaders predicting billions of dollars in U.S. sales. But different interpretations of what Muslims consider “halal” has led to confusion, misunderstanding and even fraud, prompting some states […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Tapping into a growing Muslim-American population, the market for food products lawful to eat under Islamic regulations has boomed, with some industry leaders predicting billions of dollars in U.S. sales.

But different interpretations of what Muslims consider “halal” has led to confusion, misunderstanding and even fraud, prompting some states to step in with their own regulations.


“Halal is the new kosher,” said Jalel Aossey, director of Midamar, an Iowa-based halal food supplier and distributor.

“The challenge is whose definition you’re going to follow. For some people, as long as there is no pork or alcohol, it is halal. Others demand animals must be slaughtered by a Muslim who says: `In the name of Allah, Allah is great.”’

Still others, like Dr. Adnan Aldayel, founder of Dakota Halal Foods, a large slaughtering house in Harvey, N.D., say the feed given to animals cannot have pork or other animal by-products to be halal.

Aossey said many Muslims have resorted to eating non-halal or kosher food, but his company’s research shows that 92 percent of Muslim-Americans would eat only halal if it is were widely available.

But getting access to halal food remains difficult in many parts of the country.

Zarina Rasheed, a physician in Beckeley, W. Va., said because there was no halal meat available inÃÂ?MDULÃÂ? her area, Muslims used to buy their meat from a Christian butcher they called Brother Tony.

“He agreed to say he would kill the animal in the name of the God of Abraham,” she said of the Christian butcher.

Then competition for the halal market emerged.

“Now a Muslim company from North Carolina comes to the mosque once a month, and we all get our meat from (it),” Rasheed said.


Several leaders in the halal food industry estimate a potential multi-billion dollar market in the United States.

They base that on an estimated Muslim population of about 7 million, though some estimates are much lower and there is no religion census to say with certainty how many U.S. Muslims there are. Industry leaders say if the average Muslim-American ate only one pound of halal meat per week, billions would be sold annually.

The kosher food market exceeds $6 billion annually, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University.

Along with a potentially large halal industry, however, comes an increasing problem: companies who deliberately mislabel products as halal because consumers are willing to pay more for food that is prepared according to Islamic guidelines.

New York recently joined several other states, including California, Illinois, New Jersey and Michigan in passing laws protecting Muslim consumers from meat and processed food products that are intentionally mislabeled as halal.

Most states’ halal labeling laws are similar to truth-in-labeling laws at the federal level. The Michigan Legislature, for example, added the law to its penal code in 2002, making it a misdemeanor to knowingly mark or brand food in a way that does not reflect how it was prepared.


According to Bridget Medina, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the state relies heavily on consumer complaints to find people who are abusing the halal identification. She said complaints have been investigated, but no enforcement action has been necessary.

But some Muslim organizations say relying on consumers’ subjective complaints is not good enough.

“There is some confusion because there is no proper supervision from a nationally recognized body,” said Mohammad Mazhar Hussaini, director of the Islamic Sociey of North America’s Halal Certification Program.

ISNA, a large umbrella organization for Muslim groups across the continent, started its certification program in September in an attempt to set up national standards for judging whether foods should be considered halal.

“Since ISNA is a national organization and it is membership based, we feel that our guidelines reflect a consensus of the Muslim community,” said Hussaini.

Other organizations, like the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of North America and Islamic Services of America, also provide halal certification. Each provides its own stamp or logo to certify products are halal according to the organization’s guidelines.

Nonetheless, there are many halal meat and food providers who do not see the need to have their products certified by outside agencies.


Abe Berry, co-owner of Berry and Sons Islamic Slaughter House in Detroit said his doors are open to anyone to come and personally inspect how their animals are slaughtered.

“We have people coming in, Muslim people, who say, `I have a doubt,’ and I tell them, `This is your facility. You can pray on the animal yourself, you can see it being done, you can do it yourself.”’

Aldayel, of Dakota Halal Foods, said the ultimate answer is consumer education.

He said he used to provide meat to stores that played Quran recitation tapes and had pictures of Mecca on the wall, but they would only sell halal meat to customers who would specifically ask for it. The store, Aldayel said, sold cheaper non-halal meat _ at halal prices _ to those who didn’t ask, perhaps assuming everything was halal because of the store’s Islamic decor.

Since such stores did not have signs claiming they were selling only halal meat, they weren’t breaking any laws, Aldayel said.

MO/JL END RNS Editors: To obtain photos of halal meat products, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!