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29 March 2024

Halal products on UAE market ‘really halal’

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

Consumers in the UAE who feel doubtful whether they are purchasing halal products or not will no longer need to worry, as a new “halal regulation package” is to be unwrapped over the coming years.

The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (Esma) will monitor food, cosmetic, and fashion products from beginning to end to assure that when these are claimed to be halal, they really are.

This is in response to doubts from consumers who fear that products might not always be halal although they are claimed to be, said Mohamad Saleh Badri, Director-General of Esma.

“There is a difference between products being haram and halal. Currently, products are checked to see whether they contain elements of pork, and if they do they are haram. But for a product to be halal, there is a certain process that needs to be followed. This process is currently not monitored.”

With the new regulations, Esma will monitor the product starting from the farm; it will look at how the animal is treated, what food it is fed, how it is slaughtered, processed, transported, packaged and stored. “We will monitor it from beginning to end,” commented Mohamad.

This does not mean that each product on the market will be a halal product. “There will still be non-halal products on the shelves. But when a product is claimed to be halal, consumers can feel confident that this is really the case.”

Food products are the focus of the first stage, which will be followed by the monitoring of cosmetics, and clothes and accessories.  “With regards to these items we look whether any elements of pork were used. In case other animal elements were used we monitor the same process.”

The initiative will be launched in the UAE, but is set to become an international framework if successful.

“We have been asked by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to develop a system to monitor whether products are halal. We will first implement the system in the UAE, and present the case study. If successful it will form a framework for other Muslim countries too,” said Mohamad.

Each year one stage of the project will be launched, food items expected to be monitored this year. When monitored, a halal product can be recognised by the halal mark and certifications. Non-compliance may be met with fines between Dh30,000 to Dh100,000.