Halal Happenings
Halal Consumer Magazine
Think of your kitchen and all the ingredients that go into creating a dish. Now swap red pepper, salt, ginger, garlic and so on with mouthfuls such as erythritol, propylene glycol alginate, inulin, locust bean gum, or carrageenan. Yes, you guessed right. It’s the stuff on all those food labels and there are reasons for them being in there. These could vary from making sure that canned soup has the texture of soup instead of water, to ensuring that frozen potatoes stay firm even when you pull them out of your freezer, unlike the mush your own cooked potatoes turn to when you thaw them out. Put on your seat belts and let’s go for a ride on the insider’s track. Our destination: The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Food Expo, July 28 – August 1, 2007.
Besides the IFANCA booth, there were 156 IFANCA clients amongst the other vendors in attendance. We spoke to IFANCA clients Tic Gums, Cargill, Grande Cheese and Fortitech to learn what they’d brought to the expo for show-and-tell and below we bring this information to you. However, it is only to further an awareness as to goings on in the industry, and does not imply certification by IFANCA, unless specified.
With more studies showing the importance of fiber in one’s diet, and the less-than-recommended daily intake of most Americans, food processors are looking beyond bread and bakery items to other types of foods, literally from soup to nuts. TIC Gums now offers Nutriloid® 7000, another fiber-enhanced product development. The hydrocolloid is designed to boost the soluble dietary fiber level in a variety of soup recipes without increasing the viscosity that can cause formulation problems. “Nutriloid 7000 is part of the solution to finding ways to add soluble dietary fiber in everyday favorite foods. The fact that it helps maintain a consistent stability is another bonus for the manufacturer,” commented Dr. Nieto.
For a list of specific IFANCA certified Tic Gums products, contact us through www.IFANCA.org.
Responding to consumer demand for health-oriented, great-tasting and convenient food and beverage products, Cargill showcased a broad array of application development and functional ingredient capabilities at the IFT Expo.
Visitors to Cargill’s booth learned about and sampled 13 food and beverage prototypes that address everything from health issues such as weight management, energy management and heart health to satisfying consumer cravings for pure indulgence. The booth was organized by category with prototypes for sampling in each area. In the bakery section were decadent breads in chocolate hazelnut and mango peach varieties and delectable, zero grams trans-fat doughnuts. Amongst beverages were samples of custom combinations of inulin and calcium in raspberry-flavored and unflavored drinks, an iced latte with a sweetener that provides lasting energy and organic blueberry green tea with blueberry juice. Prototypes of confections included sugar-free mint patties, sugar-free sour gummy candy and organic chocolate-raspberry truffles. IFANCA certifies several thousand ingredients for Cargill, many of which could go into creating such products.
IFANCA halal-certified Fortitech, Inc., the world leader in custom nutrient premixes, focused on increased energy and weight control at IFT this year. While weight management is an exponentially growing issue worldwide, consumers and new product developers are struggling to find great-tasting, cost effective products to satisfy hunger, add energy and improve cardio health. Fortitech has custom formulated several new premix samples designed to target those issues specifically. During the IFT Food Expo, Fortitech offered:
Blending specially selected cultures and using the time honored techniques of their skilled cheese artisans, Grande Cheese’s IFANCA halal-certified whole milk mozzarella cheese and skim milk mozzarella cheese are all natural cheeses without additives, fillers or preservatives to ensure optimum flavor, performance and consistency. Besides those products, IFANCA also certifies Grande whey products for the food industry.
Stephen Dott, who was present at the Expo, spoke to us about Grande Custom Ingredient Group’s newest prototype – a patented meat alternative produced from whey protein. It combines excellent nutrition with the taste and texture of meat. This high protein, low fat offering is aimed at markets catering to health and nutrition, vegetarian and alternative foods, sports and body building industries. Grande textured whey protein contains 70% whey protein with a complete amino acid composition and the highest biological value compared to plant proteins. It is low in total fat (0.70 %), saturated fat (0.25%) and trans fat (0.02%).
In conjunction with the International Al-Quran Reciters Assembly, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia or the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development, commonly known as JAKIM, conducted a dialogue on Halal Certification Management, on August 22-23, 2007. Two dozen representatives from 14 halal certifying organizations in 10 countries participated.
The two day meeting was designed to cover the Malaysian protocol for the production of halal meat. Tuan Hj. Zainal Abidin Jaffar, Director of Halal Hub Division, the lead speaker, made a comprehensive presentation about the theme of the meeting. A wide range of topics were discussed, including the slaughter and stunning of animals, segregation during production and transport, GMO foods, gelatin, animal feed, as well as medicine and vaccines. The meeting was conducted in an open forum style, giving the attendees ample opportunity to participate in the dialogue. The organizers kept the discussions focused and in line with the practices from the perspectives of Shariah (Islamic law).
Director Tuan Hj. Zainal Abidin Jaffar announced that JAKIM will be the permanent secretariat for future dialogues, with some of the actual meetings held in other countries. In his closing remarks, representing the Honorable Minister Dato’ Dr. Abdullah Md. Zin, the Director General of JAKIM, Honorable Dato’ Wan Muhamed Aziz, reiterated the Malaysian government’s support of global halal initiatives and issues leading towards making Malaysia a truly halal hub.
The attendees to the dialogue also witnessed an awards ceremony for the reciters of the Quran at the International Al-Quran Reciters Assembly, where reciters from over 40 Muslim and non-Muslim countries participated in the Quran recitation competition.
IFANCA is pleased to announce that The Secretary General of the Municipalities, U.A.E has approved IFANCA, Chicago and Toronto, to supervise halal slaughtering in the USA and Canada, respectively. IFANCA will also be issuing certificates for U.A.E. We look forward to doing business together and building a mutually beneficial relationship.
IFANCA was one of the many co-sponsors at the International Goat Symposium in Canada this September. The theme was “Profit through Genetics”. A day and a half of presentations, concurrent sessions and demonstrations addressed various aspects of goat genetics such as genetic improvement in Canada and around the world; using on-farm records for daily decision making; the use of artificial insemination and embryo transfer and discussions for those interested in entering the dairy or meat goat business.
Flavor University at FONA International held a seminar on quality assurance at their beautiful facility in Geneva, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Besides USA, attendees from Canada and Europe participated in the seminar. Dr. Muhammad Chaudry presented an overview of the halal guidelines for the flavor industry.
Dr. Thomas Vollmuth, Staff Director at Wrigley & Company, made a presentation about the global stature of company and how it implements halal in it production facilities around the world. Both FONA and Wrigley are IFANCA certified companies. The seminar was organized and moderated by Ramesh Shah, vice president of technical services at FONA International
“FONA has implemented one of the strictest quality assurance programs in the flavor industry, based on pharmaceutical industry standards, which has helped FONA growth way above the industry average”, said Mr. Shah.
IFANCA Canada participated by setting up a booth at the 19th Annual Table Top Suppliers’ Exhibition 2007, on November 13, 2007. Various leading food manufacturers participated in the event. The number of exhibits were over 210 and more than 1400 people attended this annual exhibition. It was a great opportunity to network and find out what is new. Exhibitors used the tabletops to display literatures, samples and gift items, etc. IFANCA Canada displayed its official publication, Halal Consumer. This magazine has a circulation of 40,000 and is being distributed among Muslim consumers and food industry professionals across North America and internationally. IFANCA’s mission is to educate Muslim consumers about the halal industry.
According to Bob Crane, Chairman, CIFST Toronto Section, this event has always been one of the most cost effective trade shows around and this year they have enhanced the value even further. Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) was founded in 1951 and is the national association for food industry professionals.
“I was so glad to see people from the food industry showing so much interest in learning about Halal certification” says Haider Khattak, IFANCA Canada Halal Auditor.
Masterfoods UK, makers of Mars, Galaxy, Snickers, Milky Way and Maltesers chocolates, decided to abort plans to replace vegetable based enzymes with animal rennet, as an ingredient in their chocolates sold in the U.K. The decision came following 6,000 complaints by irate consumers, within the week of the announcement. Forty Ministers of Parliament, too, were signatories to a petition protesting the move, indicating the power of consumers to affect business decisions. Had it come to fruition, Masterfoods’ decision to use animal enzymes would have affected chocolate bars sold in the U.K. alone.