The benefits of halal and kosher certification

Ethnic and religious considerations are not the only reasons why consumers are choosing kosher- and halal-certified foods. Many perceive the extra supervision implicit in the certified foods assures higher quality and safer food products.

A Packaged Facts report, ‘Market Trend: Kosher- and Halal-Certified Foods in the US’, resonates with a similar report from Mintel released earlier this year, which concluded that the majority of US consumers who buy kosher foods do so for perceived quality and safety reasons, rather than for religious ones, and there is no reason to assume things are any different in Australia and New Zealand.

The Mintel study found that three in five people who buy kosher food do so because they perceive it to be better quality, in contrast with only 14% of consumers who said they bought it because they adhere to kosher religious rules.

In the US, Muslims represent less than 1% of the population and halal food is not yet a prominent option. However, the Muslim population in Australia is higher and the demand for, and availability of, halal food is higher.

Currently, Muslims account for one in five people in the world but this is expected to increase to 30% by 2025.

The two most popular markets for halal food are South-East Asia and the Middle East.

In South-East Asia - which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines - there are over 250 million halal consumers. In the Middle East, Islam is the major religion and halal certification is mandatory for meat and meat-based imported products. The Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry estimates the market value for halal foods to be AU$685bn worldwide.

The close proximity of Australia to these countries presents Australian food manufacturers with extremely promising export opportunities.

By going through the halal certification process, food processors will open up the possibility of additional clientele - and often they will not even have to make changes to their product to get such certification.

A typical halal-certification process involves four steps: application, submission, processing certification and post certification. Upon completion, the application would be submitted to an appropriate halal-certifying body. At that time, the committee audits the production facility for compliance and subsequently approves or disapproves the application based on the findings. Once approved, a halal certificate is issued and is valid for one to two years. During post-certification, the company is obliged to advise any changes to the halal-certifying body and must renew its application two to three months prior the certificate expiring. The certification attests that a product/service is suitable for Muslims and finished products which adhere to halal manufacturing procedures carry a halal symbol on the label.

All equipment used in the production of halal foods must be free from contamination with non-halal items and halal products need to be fully segregated from non-halal items and comply with the necessary hygiene and sanitation requirements. All ingredients must all be halal as well. Interestingly, in the US, while more than 20% of products are certified kosher, 75% of ingredients are kosher - so kosher, and presumably halal, ingredients are definitely out there.

Favourable perceptions

Many consumers believe that halal and kosher food is produced under stricter supervision than is provided by government inspection and for many consumers the halal and kosher symbols guarantee that the food is free of contaminants or disease.

In many cases this is perception rather than fact - when asked if adhering to kosher rules could have prevented some of the recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the US, Krista Faron, senior new product analyst at Mintel, said: “I’m not sure that it would have made a difference. The benefit to kosher is the perception rather than anything else.”

In Mintel’s database of new food product launches, Kosher was in first place with 5389 new launches in 2008 in a top 10 list of claims for new food and beverage products, followed by “all natural” and “no additives/preservatives”.

Another non-religious group of kosher consumers is the lactose intolerant. By simply checking the kosher certification label rather than scanning the entire ingredient list they are able to verify that a kosher product is dairy free.

A previous report from Mintel released suggested that the kosher food market was growing, not so much because of religion, but because consumers of various backgrounds trust kosher foods to be safer and clearly marked as to ingredient content.

The research indicated that more than half of consumers who purchased kosher products did so because they considered them to be safer than products not certified as kosher.

Mintel’s research has shown that kosher was the most frequently used claim on food and drink products launched in the US in 2008 which, as the Jewish population is not increasing, suggests that the growing interest may be more to do with food safety than religion.

Aside from religious requirements, kosher and halal supervision adds another level of quality control in responding to the needs of the discerning consumer. Simply by adhering to the kosher and halal requirements and having foods certified, processors will broaden their market.