Speakers at a workshop on Friday said that despite having the great opportunity to grab global halal market, the country share in the world halal market is negligible

Speakers at a workshop on Friday said that despite having the great opportunity to grab global halal market, the country share in the world halal market is negligible . They were addressing a training workshop on Halal Food arranged at the National Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Pakistan National Accreditation Council Director General Ismat Gul Khattak said that the country share to the international halal markets can be boosted up manifold which is now negligible . She also said that there were some ingredients and others food items were available in the markets which were suspicious in term of halal food. She said that they had launched a state-of-the-art halal food accreditation system which was being copied in the many Muslims countries. She added that the system would help the eliminate non-halal items and ensure the availability of halal food to the people. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that world Muslim population comprises 24% of the total world population with two billion people. He said that the world halal food markets values 1.4 trillion dollar in which Pakistan share is negligible. He showed his concern that we are far lagging behind in value addition and adopting the latest trends. He told the audience that world’s leading suppliers for Halal products were Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Thailand, USA and others. He said that America and Australia are the biggest Halal beef exporters while Brazil and France are the biggest Halal chicken exporters in the Middle East. Mufti Naeem from Halal Foundation Karachi said that the Halaal Foundation envisages playing such a role on both national and international levels as benefits not only Pakistan but also the Muslim Ummah and the world at large, by providing state-of-the-art professional guidance about the production and consumption of products and services in accordance with the Shariah standards of Halaal. Faculty of Food Nutrition and Home Sciences Dean Prof Dr Masood Sadiq Butt said that it was the need of the hour to promote the value- addition to our food products at par with international standards. He said the demand for the halal food was increasing with the each passing day worldwide.