Halal food industry growing to meet demand as Muslim population continues rising

Eleven years in the past, the recipe for the McCain Deep’n Delicious cake — a decades-old Canadian basic — modified. 

To many Canadians, the elimination of beef gelatin from the cake’s elements might have gone unnoticed. But for Muslim buyers used to checking the elements of meals merchandise, it was trigger for celebration. 

“It went kind of viral within the Muslim community, like, ‘Oh my God, we can eat this,’” stated Salima Jivraj, account director and multicultural lead at Nourish Food Marketing.

It’s simpler than ever to search out halal meat, snacks and desserts in grocery shops because the trade expands in response to Canada’s rising Muslim inhabitants, and Jivraj stated she doesn’t count on that progress to gradual anytime quickly. 

“The demand just keeps growing. So it’s a really good business to be in,” she stated. 

Nearly 5 per cent of Canadians are Muslim, in line with the 2021 census, a proportion that has greater than doubled since 2001, with immigration as a key driver.

Almost 19 per cent of immigrants admitted between 2011 and 2021 have been Muslim, Statistics Canada information present.

“Because the demand is there, the industry is paying more attention, and as a result there’s more products hitting the shelves,” stated Omar Subedar, an imam in addition to COO and co-founder of the Halal Monitoring Authority (HMA). 

For meat to be halal, the animal must be slaughtered in a sure approach and blessed on the time of slaughter, he defined. Muslims don’t eat sure sorts of meat, most notably pork, and the therapy of the animal from the start of its life can also be necessary, he stated. 

It’s not solely about meat, nonetheless. Many widespread grocery objects embody animal byproducts akin to gelatin (in marshmallows, for instance) or rennet (discovered in lots of cheeses), stated Jivraj. But this stuff are additionally more and more out there halal, she added.

Halal client packaged items or different meals merchandise additionally must be freed from alcohol.

The HMA launched in 2006 to deal with malpractice and fraud within the halal meals trade, stated Subedar. It certifies halal-labelled merchandise and displays the practices of the businesses it certifies. 

Mississauga, Ont.-based Maple Leaf Foods, which produces a wide range of meat and different protein merchandise, has seen rising demand for its halal choices in recent times. The firm’s halal model, Mina, was launched in 2013 and is licensed by the HMA. 

“We expect strong growth to continue in the years to come,” Patrick Lutfy, the corporate’s senior vice-president of retail advertising and marketing, stated in an emailed assertion. 

There are considerably extra choices now for Muslim customers in grocery shops and at eating places than there have been when Subedar was rising up. He remembers his mom making pizza at residence with naan as a result of he couldn’t have pizza at a series restaurant like a lot of his buddies might.

“Look at how far we’ve come,” he stated. “Now we’ve got a multitude of different options.” 

Much of the innovation in halal meals may be present in smaller, unbiased and specialty grocery shops, to not point out an usually a lot wider choice, stated Jivraj. Those shops have a tendency to grasp their buyer base higher and are extra nimble as effectively, she stated. 

But over time, the massive retailers have additionally realized they should make investments extra in halal merchandise, Jivraj stated.

Nourish has been conducting an everyday survey of Canadian halal customers since 2016. The 2022 research discovered that increasingly more main meals firms are assembly the wants of buyers in search of halal merchandise, with large field shops turning into a bigger a part of halal customers’ grocery procuring. 

The research additionally discovered that the Muslim neighborhood are savvy internet buyers, stated Jivraj, which represents a problem for unbiased shops — and a possibility for the key grocery chains, which invested closely in e-commerce in the course of the pandemic. 

Metro Inc., considered one of Canada’s largest grocers, has seen a “considerable increase” in demand for halal meat, stated spokeswoman Stephanie Bonk. As a consequence, the grocery store has devoted extra in-store area to halal merchandise with a a lot bigger assortment, she stated, and halal merchandise have skilled double-digit progress in recent times.

When Jivraj began running a blog about halal eating places in Toronto greater than a decade in the past, there have been far fewer choices — and even those who known as themselves halal couldn’t at all times be trusted, as there was some fraud alongside the availability chain. 

Jivraj stated there’s much more belief within the halal meals trade at present than there was when she first started running a blog about it. One factor that’s contributed to that is an rising quantity of transparency in the case of labelling halal merchandise, she stated.

In 2016, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency began imposing new halal labelling and promoting necessities. All halal claims have to be accompanied by the title of a corporation or person who licensed it as halal.

Since the CFIA’s change, extra organizations have popped as much as fill demand for halal certification, stated Subedar. However, it’s not an ideal system since these organizations aren’t regulated themselves, he stated. 

Fraud remains to be an issue within the halal meals trade, in line with Subedar. He cautioned customers to do their analysis after they see a product labelled as halal, and get to understand how totally different organizations do their certification. 

Nevertheless, this transfer by the CFIA has been useful for the buyer, stated Subedar.

“Before, you can just write halal and no one can really question you,” he stated. “But now there’s an authority or an organization behind it.”