The article on the sausage and cold cuts business made it clear that it is near impossible to obtain Halal-certified natural sausage casings i.e. from Halal-slaughtered sheep. At least in Malaysia.

Natural casings are almost always a mix of Halal and non-Halal, so that companies that want to be certain that their product is Halal use cellulose casings for their sausage products.

This is course meant that any company that claimed to have Halal-certified natural casings was probably, as US politicians like to put it, being economical with the truth.

Once it became evident that something was afoot, a chain-reaction was triggered. Assuming the worst, i.e, that the casings were made from big, the press, TV, government bodies and consumer groups swooped on the offenders. Sausages were taken for analysis, premises closed, lawsuits threatened, and the telco’s did pretty well on the sms front.

Closer inspection and chemical analysis revealed that the casings were not made from pigs, but were not Halal-certified either, and in any event, the relevant Halal certifications were out of date. Some creative photocopying may have taken place. The food outlets in question were ritually cleansed, full-page national newspaper ads came out, menus were changed and things have basically gone back to normal.

The issue was debated in Parliament; some good and some not-so-good suggestions were made. Articles appeared in the national papers suggesting that if Malaysia is serious about becoming a world-class player in Halal food production, we had to take this  matter a bit more seriously.

This event is in many ways symptomatic of a deeper malaise. In Malaysia, the Muslim have, to a great extent, left the production of Halal food in the hands of the non-Muslims who, frankly, cannot be expected to have a deep understanding of the importance of Halal food. If they did, they would probably be Muslims.

And this is not just the case in Malaysia.

Taken globally as an industry, the whole process from animal rearing, food production, distribution, wholesale and retail sales, the entire food chain has been left to the non-Muslims.

Muslims have not even given others clear and consistent guidelines to be followed; they just want to sit down and eat, and get very upset if it has not been done to their liking.

Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?

This is a market full of gaps. Gaps are business opportunities for anyone with a bit of initiative and imagination. Just take sausage skins. If one outlet on the outskirts of a medium-sized city can sell a thousand sausages a day, surely there is an international market for natural Halal sausage casings? Let alone sausages!

If something is important, then take care of it. If Halal standards are important to us, then let us start to establish them, market them, publicise them, and enforce them. It is no good just getting on our high horse when things go wrong.

Halal and tayyib, the lawful and wholesome, are the standards for all human beings. You do not have to be a Muslim, a rocket scientist or a vegetarian to realise that Haram foods like pork, blood and carrion are all well-documented health hazards.

The duty and responsibility for Halal, and let’s not forget the business opportunities that go with it, rests with the Muslims. The combination of Halal and tayyib are potentially a global benchmark for excellence, superior to the GMP, HACCP, EU Standards, FDA standards and all the rest. Are we waiting for the Swiss to define global Halal standards and charge the Muslims to conform to them?

Make no mistake, global standards are coming, and it will be the food industry that is the driving force in bringing them about. The industry – like any industry – wants standards, because their business is built on them. To be Halal, you have to know that your suppliers are Halal, and they have to know their suppliers are Halal.

When the international Swedish furniture producers realised that they had – effectively – been tricked into selling non-Halal as Halal, they took action. After all, they believe that they have the most to lose; customers, revenue, reputation. Or maybe they just care more. In any case, for their own reasons, and unprompted by any Islamic authority, they decided to check up on their other dozen or so food suppliers to ensure that their Halal really was Halal. They became the industry watchdogs, with teeth. If you are not Halal, we will not buy your product.

Good for them. Shame on the rest of us.

**This article was first published in The Halal Journal May/Jun 2005 edition.