Why Should We Consolidate The Global Halal Food Market?

Why should we consolidate the global halal food market? Why is the halal food market so fragmented currently? Does this fragmentation have anything to do with our culture and business practices? What are the challenges we are facing in the halal food supply chain?

We, as Muslims, are a 1.8 billion strong population in the world. However, at least 40% of our halal food comes from those sources which are not reliable. Almost 85% of the food Muslims consume globally is produced by non-Muslims.

The past few years have witnessed halal food supply chain issues at the highest levels. Just recently, Malaysia faced one of its major halal authenticity crises when it was discovered that some meat cartels in the country had been involved in fraudulent practices by wrongly labeling meat as halal. And this continued for full 40 years.

We often hear financial and operational irregularities at MUIS of Singapore. Halal food supply chains in many other Muslim-majority countries are not much different.

Why Consolidation Needed In Global Halal Food Market?

There are quite a few reasons due to which we need to consolidate the global Halal food market. Some of the reasons are as follows.

1. Fraudulent practices are prevalent at various organizational levels
2. Muslim consumers seem to have little to no power to dictate their will on the industry players even if they abuse their powers against consumers
3. Most of the Halal food Muslims consume is produced and controlled by non-Muslims
4. We do not have any major food brands exclusively serving Muslim consumers
5. Small food companies being run by Muslims do not have the resources and technical know-how to improve their food supply chain management systems
6. Consolidation of the industry allows food companies to invest more in R&D
7. Bigger Halal food companies can react quickly to consumer feedback

Who Are The Big Spenders Of Halal Food Globally?

Countries in the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey spend billions in importing Halal food from North America, Brazil, India, and Australia, New Zealand.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the global Halal food market is growing fast. Consumers are becoming more demanding in the choices of foods they want to consume. But, we as Muslims need to make sure that whatever food we consume is actually Halal.

The consolidation of the global Halal food market may be the only way out to feed the growing Muslim population in all parts of the world.