Saudi Arabia\u2019s Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) has announced plans to launch what is claimed to be the world\u2019s largest center for halal food and products.
\n\u201cThe vision of the center is to be an Islamic leader in halal products [and] to strengthen the Islamic dimension of the Kingdom through a supervisory system and highly qualified human resources operating within the framework of Islamic Shari`ah, and to keep abreast of the development of the food industry,\u201d according to the announcement cited by Gulf Business on Wednesday, July 25.
\nThe organization\u2019s executive chairman, Hisham bin Saad Al Jedaie said plans for the center came under the kingdom\u2019s Vision 2030 reform agenda.
\nAmong the goals of the initiative are to establish the \u201cfull local commitment\u201d of imported products to halal requirements including meat, poultry, other food items, cosmetics, medicines and medical devices.
\nThe center will also aim to be a \u201chalal representative globally\u201d through ties with local and international logistics service providers and Islamic and non-Islamic stakeholders and develop the kingdom\u2019s halal economy while creating jobs for Saudi nationals.
\nHalal is an Arabic word that means \u201cpermissible.\u201d The term is commonly used for meat, but it also applies to other food products, cosmetics, personal care products and pharmaceuticals which mustn\u2019t be derived from non-halal sources like pork.
\nHalal also applies to any other consumed and edible materials which mustn\u2019t be harmful to human health. For example, Islam considers wines, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, E-cigs, hookah and other unhealthy things to be non-halal.
\nFor something to be considered halal, the animal from which it came from must be well-treated, raised in a humane and healthy way, and slaughtered according to Shari\u2019ah for hygiene reasons.
\nDubai Islamic Economy Development Centre\u2019s 2017-2018 State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, published in collaboration with Thomson Reuters, estimated Muslim spending in the food and beverage sector reached $1.24bn in 2016, with pharmaceuticals and cosmetics coming in at $83bn and $57.4bn.
\nSpending on halal F&B is expected to reach $1.93 trillion by 2020, pharmaceuticals $132bn and cosmetics $82bn.
\nThe report placed Malaysia at the top of the global halal food market followed by the UAE and Saudi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) has announced plans to launch what is claimed to be the world\u2019s largest center for halal food and products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n