No horseplay from IKEA Turkey on halal meat

ISTANBUL/ STOCKHOLM

IKEA Turkey has confirmed that all of its meat products are made of 100 percent veal with halal certification, after inspectors discovered that meatballs served in IKEA’s stores in the Czech Republic contained horsemeat.

The Swedish furniture giant was drawn into Europe’s widening food labeling scandal today after the Czech State Veterinary Administration declared that horse meat had been found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meatballs made in Sweden and shipped for sale in Czech IKEA stores. A total of 760 kilograms of the meatballs were prevented from reaching the shelves, according to The Associated Press.

IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said meatballs from the same batch had gone out to Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Greek Cyprus and Ireland.

Halal certificate

Magnusson said meatballs from that batch were taken off the shelves in IKEA stores in all those countries, and confirmed that other shipments of meatballs were not affected. IKEA Turkey told the Hürriyet Daily News today that products such as meatballs and sausages were 100 percent veal, supplied by local producers. The company’s Turkey group also declared that all these products were supplied by the local P?nar Et Company, which produces halal food, in compliance with Islamic standards. The recent news items about IKEA’s European stores have nothing to do with IKEA Turkey, representatives said.

The horse meat scandal began in Ireland in mid-January, when the country announced the results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. Similar discoveries then spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and were forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves.

European Union officials are meeting today to discuss tougher food labeling rules. Some EU member states are pressing for tougher labeling rules to regain consumer confidence. The 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product ingredients, starting with a better labeling of meat products, German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.

World Halal Food Council Europe arrives in Italy

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 25 – The World Halal Food Council Europe, which groups top experts on foods Muslims are allowed to eat, will meet for the first time in Italy and is scheduled to gather in Milan on March 1-2.

The meeting, organized by the local chapter of the Halal International Authority, HIA, charged with certifying which products and cooking procedures are halal, licit under Islam, will meet at the Sheraton Malpensa Hotel. Promoters say experts will discuss common rules of certification, the sector’s challenges and the opportunities for the halal market in Europe.

Among participants, the local section of the HIA said in a statement’, will be ‘the representatives of all the agencies making up the World Halal Food Council in Europe: HIA, Halal Quality Control, Halal Food Council Europe, Halal Institute of Spain, European Institute of Halal, Halal Control, The Grand Mosque of Paris, Halal Certification Services, Total Quality Halal Correct, The Muslim Religious Union of Poland and The Muslim Food Board’.

Consumers of halal products are over two billion worldwide, with an estimated 35 million in Europe however organizers of the event said ‘certifications are granted in an unclear way by organizations which are not recognized internationally and have unclear origins’.

The World Halal Food Council was created in Indonesia in 1999 ‘to consolidate the brotherhood and cooperation among certification agencies worldwide’.

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The 2013 edition of the World Halal Food Council (WHFC) of Europe will be held in Italy. The Halal International Authority (HIA) will host the meeting at the city of Milan, the capital par excellence of the Italian economy. On 2nd March, 2013 at the Sheraton Malpensa Hotel, WHFC Members together with important leaders, observers and experts in the Halal field from around the world will be there. This annual meeting of WHFC Europe will be a special opportunity as it will discuss important issues related to Halal certification common rules, struggles to cope with and opportunities to develop in European Halal market.

Opinion: Chance for Halal Industry to raise the bar

by Rushdi Siddiqui & Tina Jamaluddin

Breaking News: “Nestle removes beef pasta meals after finding horsemeat; Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, has removed beef pasta meals from shelves in Italy and Spain after tests revealed traces of horse DNA.” — BBC News on Feb 19, 2013.

The Chinese new year of the Snake, seems to have become the year of Horse (meat). The year, 2013, did not start on a positive note for meat loving consumers in Europe with the mid-January announcement about Irish food inspectors finding horsemeat in some beef burgers heading for the UK supermarket chains.

This was followed almost immediately by announcement from the UK, Sweden and France that up to 100% horsemeat was found in several brands of frozen food.

In tracing the origins of the abattoirs responsible for contaminating the supply chain, it leads investigators across France to Cyprus to Netherlands to Romania and Luxembourg. The concern was the contamination seemed not to be accidental, but, rather the work of criminal conspiracy.

The world’s largest food manufacturer, Nestle, with a large imprint in the halal market, admitted that two of their beef products produced out of their factory in Italy and Spain contained more than 1% horse DNA. Furthermore, the possible source of contaminant was a supplier in Germany, a sub-contractor owned by JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company.

How does this affect consumer confidence in accepting the authenticity and integrity of the attached label?

Now, the entire supply chain, from the proverbial “farm to fork” is somewhat compromised, possibly not from a food safety perspective, but from an ethical and business standpoint. Nestle and JBS are listed No 1 and No 6, respectively, on the list of world’s largest food companies (by sales), and for all their food safety systems and standards, they still find themselves embroiled in this unfolding scandal.

The food retailers across Europe, with PR machinery in place, have firmly distanced themselves from the actions of their guilty suppliers, and have been adamant that they were as shocked as their customers by the discovery. Furthermore, the EU health ministers were quick to point out that while mislabeling is ethically questionable, the horsemeat contamination is not a food safety or public health issue, even though the equine drug Phenylbutazone, or bute, used on horses is not allowed to enter the food chain as it could pose a health risk in humans.

This leads back to the bigger question: how confident are we, as food consumers that we have not been exposed? Where does the “buck of responsibility stop?” The fingers are pointing to those making the larger profit margins, major food retailers have to bear some of the responsibility. Furthermore, it would appear they are constantly squeezing the supply manufacturers to produce cheap products while improving their own bottom line.

While eating horsemeat may be considered taboo or even unethical or unsavory in some parts of the world, Muslims are not prohibited from eating horse and camel if the animal is slaughtered in accordance with strict Islamic practices. However, the worry for Muslim consumers, who readily eat non-certified halal meat products with the justification that “as long as it’s not pork”, is that during the same testing process, food inspectors have also discovered minute traces of pork DNA in some beef frozen foods.

For example, Waitrose’s brand of British meatballs showed they contained some pork. Even some Halal meat pies produced in the UK were found to have traces of porcine DNA. The word distressing is an understatement for Muslims relying on truth in labeling by the name brand companies!

The potential fallout could be massive and will shift the mindset of Muslim consumers worldwide who already face challenges of finding halal food products on supermarket shelves. While the contamination of pork DNA in meat products might not be deliberate, traces of pork DNA may be the result of ultra sensitive DNA testing, which can detect traces at minute levels and will be evident in factories that also produce pork-based products or get their raw materials from abattoirs that slaughter pigs.

The implications of such a scenario are crap shoot “roll the dice” (willing to chance it) versus capital equipment expenditure. Thus, going forward, this means that non-halal manufacturers, who produce halal products, will either have to have dedicated factories for halal products or they might consider dropping the product altogether.

Today, not one halal company controls the entire supply food chain. It is well-known and accepted that supply chains are long, challenging and complicated. Thus, given the scare of cross contamination and food safety issues, it is imperative that halal institutions and food manufacturers take up the challenge and convey to the public at large that their supply chains encompass the essence of halal.

There are two very important halal lessons to be learned from Islamic finance on (1) what not to do and (2) what to do during external financial shocks.

In both niche markets, Islamic finance as a subset of social-ethical movement (a subset set of conventional finance) and halal food as a subset of the “food industry” (although halal includes pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, logistics, etc), a “call to action” plan explaining the merits and value proposition is urgently required to address the external turbulence.

For the halal industry, the horsemeat fiasco is about the “trust and confidence” of the food supply chain being compromised. It is here that the halal industry can show the transparency and accountability of the food supply chain from “farm to fork.”

The halal industry has the opportunity to raise the transparency bar for not only itself, but, more importantly, for its conventional brethren.

Rushdi Siddiqui is global head, Islamic finance and OIC countries, Thomson Reuters and Tina Jamaluddin is ex-head of business and product development of PrimaBaguz Sdh Bhd.

Opinion: Lessons from hiking for Islamic finance

Rushdi believes that a change agent must tell the truth
to a benevolent dictator, religious hardliner,
and compassionately connect with youth and have nots.

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 18 — In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. — Henry Miller

Of all the sports I play — basketball, tennis, football, biking, running and hiking — hiking provides a number of lessons for Islamic finance and the halal industry.

The metaphor is applicable to many economic sectors, industries and companies, but more so in these two inter-related yet mutually ignored movements.

A misstep can be game over for a hiker, as a misstep can be disaster for an Islamic bank. The public trust and confidence, DNA on the balance sheet, are the foundations of Islamic or halal.

It starts out with one’s medical examination and appropriate equipment; one has to be/become “fit” to climb, otherwise have the ambulance on speed dial.

You and I may not have the stamina of a trekking Sherpa in Nepal, but hiring a professional trainer, and time and miles on a treadmill on incline, stepper and elliptical will do the trick.

Is the Islamic bank public ready? Who is on the shariah board? Is it appropriately capitalised, qualified human assets in place, vetted marketing materials, public inter-facing staff properly trained, strategy, tactics and execution in place with timelines and refinement feedback, customer service sharp and responsive, etc., as unexpected challenges will rise internally/externally.

Finally, what is the background of the CEO and is there confidence by the senior leadership team (SLT) and rank and file, as his vision must ultimately be executed with driven motivation.

First step out

One must start out with a hill before embarking on a mountain. For example, it makes sense to practise climbing the nearly 300 hills in Malaysia before embarking on Kilimanjaro (Kenya), K-2 (Pakistan), Mt Olympia (the US) or Mt Everest.

Most (serious) hikers aim to climb the highest peak in their country first. The initial success builds confidence and motivation to do a few more runs with, say, weighted vests, and then move forward to the next climb-cum-summit.

It’s not advisable to listen to music while hiking, as the hearing sense picks up what the eye misses due to dense foliage, fog, darkness, animals, focus on terrain, etc.

Similarily, the Islamic bank cannot put on blinkers as it will miss opportunities and will not be able to react to a (reacting) competitor. Thus, the body and the bank need to have all the senses available for optimal operations.

For a bank, a province of a country (location) is the lower hanging fruit, otherwise resources are spread thinly and depleted fast with exit results.

When a retail Islamic bank closes shop, it provides a greater chill, a run on deposits, in the marketplace than a conventional counterpart (sized) bank closure.

Studies typically suggest targeting the margin yielding bankable in major cities, KL or Jakarta, before embarking on outer regions. For example, Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi and Kuwait’s Kuwait Finance House established a beach-head presence initially in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, it’s crowded and competitive, but better than sparse and secluded, as cost of customer acquisition requires a longer break-even time frame.

(Islamic banks today are a national phenomenon as a sprinkling of branches in another country is, by definition, not international. The foreign operations may be for trade finance funding and corporate banking for company operations from the home country.)

Right equipment

Next, the right equipment is a must, as jogging sneakers, shorts, T-shirts and water bottle work well in a gym or around the KLCC park but will be inadequate if the hiker attempts to climb from the base to a few hundred metres with such ware. Thus, climbing boots, dri-fit shirts, trail mix and food in a backpack, climbing pole, ropes, etc, are the necessary tools for success.

It is an immense challenge for a new bank to enter into an already crowded space of dedicated Islamic banks, windows and subsidiaries, and consumer finance companies. Additionally, the success formula in conventional banking, be it marketing, PR, staff training, and even the CEO, does not translate well into the Islamic finance space, as the question “what’s the difference” has to be answered.

Some of the questions requiring answers include: has the bank identified, via primary studies, target customer segmentation, product differentiation and price competitiveness, PR and marketing including premiums, etc. Thus, the offering must overcome (1) approach of what worked for others will work for us and (2) “me too” perception by the market place.

A hiker will initially take an established (worn out) path, and will not follow the foot imprints deviating from the path. An Islamic bank needs to fit in (shariah adherence — “path to the watering hole”) and stand out (pricing, products, customer service, etc.). As every hiker is different, so is every Islamic bank.

The ascend

Now that we are “fit for purpose” ready, the decision of which trail — beginners to advanced — corresponds to training and equipment, and, for a bank, where should the first branch be located, maybe within headquarters?

As the climb begins, the external environment is not predictable as the hiker has to deal with different terrain, varying steepness, low hanging tree branches (at lower altitude), rock outcropping, water flow, mud, creepy crawlies, weather, etc. After a period of time, few weeks, the same climb eventually becomes more efficient, hence, better timing and pacing, supply carrying and reading the environment.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremonies are over, red carpet rolled up, and VIPs and media have left, now the job starts of attracting depositors, investors, corporate, selling cards, etc. The people/corporate, much like the terrain, vary in needs and demands. The challenges will come from both within i.e. cards not working, delays in approvals, customer service not efficient, etc., and without, competition.

Competition may send mystery clients to check out the new bank, they may under-price offerings, they may subtly question the compliance of offerings in the marketplace, etc.

After a passage of time, the growing pains become less and a routine develops with the bank and customers. There may be a “blow-up”, product’s shariah authenticity questioned in market place, much like a climber stumbling and injuring or twisting an ankle, and, in both cases, damage control (shariah advisory board comment to updated medical kit) needs to be in place.

The first view

After the compass or measurement shows an achievement of, say, 50 per cent on the first climb, the climber will look back and marvel with a sense of accomplishment, but will also look upwards and examine how much more until the summit. The benchmark on the trail to the summit, be it a tree, rock, etc., becomes faster and easier to achieve over time.

The bank branch will have a dashboard of key performance indicators, KPI, concerning deposits, loans, cards, non-performing loans, concentration risk, treasury placement profits, etc, over time intervals. The bandwidth of volatility will narrow over time as products get added/removed, refinement of marketing mix, etc.

Thus, the time to close leads narrows, threatened customers are retained without price compression, staff turnover reduced, back-office bugs reduced, etc. The bottom line is the first set of actual numbers (“how much/far” we have trekked) and becomes the benchmark to improve upon over time.

By the way, the climber will use a stick to climb and meet people on the way up and down. They will give advice on terrain conditions, different trails to take, and heeding such advice results in better climbs. Similarly, the bank will get advice from consultants, feedback from customer service and suggestion boxes for more efficient operations.

Summit

The view from the top is magnificent and different on each climb, depending on the time of day. The success builds the confidence to seek a more difficult mountain to hike. If the hiker happens to enter contests and wins the gold medal, he/she will impose self-pressure to repeat, then “three-peat”, and so on.

The magical one-year anniversary implies that the bank not only survived, but met KPIs, hence, a sense of achievement in a competitive and crowded market. It builds the foundation for opening another branch, and so on. If the bank wins an award, the CEO will be under pressure to replicate performance.

Finally, the climb down is equally challenging as one has to pace oneself, footing has to be exact or else you can blow a knee, etc. Once the bank (branch) has meet the KPIs, the two biggest challenges are complacency and inability to continually reinvent as competition is dynamic.

Conclusion

The lesson for Islamic finance from hiking is “previous preparation prevents poor performance”, and “continued commitment confuses complacency”.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

UK: Birmingham school says sorry for serving non-Halal meat to Muslim pupils

Moseley head teacher writes to parents explaining error after investigation at city council catering department

The parent, whose son is now on packed lunches, added: “We don’t know what was actually served. Non-Halal is a very ambiguous term.

“They have not explained what it means but we doubt we are going to get answers.”

An inquiry was launched on December 18 by the city council after concerns wereraised by the school.

Council department Direct Services, which provides the meals for city schools, commissioned an investigation.

Shelia Walker, Head of Direct Services, wrote to Mr Jansen last month to confirm the mistake.

A head teacher has apologised to parents after admitting his Birmingham school served non-Halal food to Muslim pupils.

A member of staff at Moseley School, in Wake Green Road, has been removed from their post following an investigation into the ‘unintentional error’.

Council catering staff had wrongly dished up the non-Halal food to Muslim pupils on December 12, but details have only just come to light.

On Monday parents received a letter from Craig Jansen, head of the 1,400-pupil secondary school and sixth form, in which he apologised unreservedly for the incident.

The controversy comes as the country is still in the grip of the horse meat scandal, which last week saw Staffordshire County Council withdrawing beef from its school menus as a precaution.

One furious Muslim parent, whose son attends Moseley School, said of the Halal error: “I was shocked – they have failed the children.

‘‘How did this meal get into the school system to be fed to the children?

“It’s just shocking that dietary requirements haven’t been met.”

Halal foods should not include pork or pork by-products, animals that were dead prior to slaughtering, blood or blood by-products or birds of prey.

She added: “This was found to be due to an error and was unintentional, nevertheless, Direct Services has failed to ensure the integrity of Halal-only food at Moseley School.”

The report went on to say that a disciplinary hearing took place on February 11 and a member of staff had been removed from the school.

Ms Walker said Direct Services catering staff would be fully retrained and signs would be displayed to indicate Halal food.

A robust procedure and double checking system would also be implemented for the ordering of Halal function/special events within the school, according to the findings.

The council’s Direct Services is also planning an open afternoon at the school at which staff and suppliers will be present to answer any questions from parents, who can also sample food products.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson told the Mail: “We of course apologise for any concerns this has caused.

‘‘We do have robust procedures in place and the caterer successfully provides thousands of meals daily to schools.

Sri Lanka Muslims try to diffuse halal meat row

24th February

consensus reached at Buddhist-Islamic religious leaders meeting

Giving a new twist to the Halal controversy, the All Ceylon JammiyyathulUlama (ACJU) has now expressed willingness to handover Halal certification to the government if problem persists. The decision came after members of the Muslim community and ACJU representatives met the Chief Prelate of the Malwatta Chapter, Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri SumangalaThera yesterday.

According to members who took part at the meeting, the Chief Prelate called upon the members to remain calm and to preserve this long standing friendship between the two communities. “He referred to the Halal issue citing that an amicable agreement could be reached easily through dialog”.

“The ACJU is willing to co-operate with the Parliamentary sub-committee appointed to look into the issue but however feel that the issue of Halaal certificate is blown out of proportion,” the member said. “Due to the many problems that have arisen, the certification could be handed over to the SLS or the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Those present at the meeting representing the Muslim community were members of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council, Former Ambassador to Iran M.S. Juhair, Dr. M.A Shukrir, Director of Jamianeenya College, Beruwala, ShiblyAzeef, Former Attorney General, Ikram Mohammed (PC), SaadiWadood  Attorney-at- Law, Moulavi H.L.M Ibrahim a lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, MoulaviFazlurRahman, President of the Kandy ACJU and member of the Muslim Media Forum A.M.M. Ameen.

Earlier, the Lanka Jamiyyathul Ulama remained polarized over the issuance of the halal certification and alleged that the ACJU had erred on their part. “We do not wish to comment on the matter as we’ve been cooperative with the government and still render our support to come to a conclusion over the matter,” said AslamZubair, the media coordinator for the ACJU.

The ACJU clarifying matters with relation to the Halal certification cited that the ACJU does not compel any company to obtain their certificate nor do they charge hefty fees for the procedure.
Consultant Shaikh Fazil Farook added that all their accounts have been submitted to the National Investigation Bureau and have always conducted their affairs in a transparent manner.

21 February

COLOMBO: Islamic clerics in Sri Lanka tried to calm mounting religious tensions in the majority Buddhist nation Thursday by telling stores not to sell halal-slaughtered meat to non-Muslims.

Food manufacturers have been labelling all their products “halal” for convenience, meaning until now non-Muslims have not had any choice in the matter.

Buddhist hardliners argue they should not be forced to consume food that is prepared according to Islamic religious rites. They say the halal certificate represents the “undue influence” of Muslims and is an “affront” to non-Muslims.

The halal method of killing an animal requires it to have its throat slit.

The clerics’ move to diffuse tensions came after thousands of nationalist Buddhists staged a rally last weekend to demand that all shops in the country clear their stocks of halal food by April.

Nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters also launched a campaign to boycott halal-slaughtered meat as well as other products which carry a halal certificate.

Muslim clerics said the boycott organised by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, has created tensions that could erupt into full-blown violence in a country recovering from decades of ethnic war.

And the the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), Sri Lanka’s main body of Islamic clergy, which issues the halal certificates, Thursday asked retailers to ensure certified products were offered only to Muslims.

“We want to promote peaceful co-existence and harmony,” ACJU president Mufti Rizwe told reporters in Colombo.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also a Buddhist, urged monks not to incite religious hatred and violence amid reports of a wave of attacks and intimidation targeting Muslim businesses.

The Buddhist Force has disassociated itself from the violence, saying there are “duplicate groups” pretending to be them and stirring up trouble.

Sri Lanka’s ethnic civil war claimed at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009, when Tamil rebels were crushed in a major military offensive.

Less than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million is Muslim.

The Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) Seeks Sole Rule on Halal Certification

The Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) says it should be the only authority for halal certification in order to avoid competition among Islam-based interest groups.

“Lawmakers should not open up opportunities for dissent among Muslims,” MUI Chairman for Fatwa Ma’ruf Amin said last week.

Ma’ruf said the MUI had had 24 years of experience as a reliable halal certification agency and that its standards were recognized worldwide.

Ma’ruf said he was not against the existence of other organizations formed by religious communities, such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). However, he said, the MUI should be the only institution allowed to issue certificates.

Misbahul Munir Kholil of NU said that it would continue to operate its halal certification unit that was established in 2011. He was not worried about disagreements between one agency and another, saying that the public should be “allowed to have options.”

Hasrul Azwar, Member of the Working Committee of Halal Product Warranty from the United Development Party, said any religious society organizations should be allowed to establish their own certification agency as long as their laboratory and methods were approved by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.