Most of us are trying to eat healthier not just meals, but snacks, too. No matter your circumstances, whether you are a singleton living alone, a professional, a stay-at-home parent…there really are never enough hours in the day. So it can be hard to create from-scratch homemade meals for dinner or avoid snacking on the go. Saffron Road products to the rescue!

In June 2010, Saffron Road’s initial four products hit store shelves with IFANCA’s Crescent-M symbol. Today, there are over 50 products available, all halal-certified by IFANCA, in over nine thousand mainstream grocery and natural markets in the United States, in addition to retailers like Target and Costco.

Why halal certification? Founder and CEO Adnan Durrani explains, “Saffron Road’s mission is to offer all-natural halal-certified foods which are also holistic, sustainably farmed, and antibiotic free. We are a big proponent of making sure to get third party certifications of all and any of our claims. We never self-claim anything on Saffron Road’s products. Hence, getting halal-certified was a ‘must-have’ for Saffron Road.” He adds, “Also, our consumers look for halal authenticity, integrity, and transparency—so the best way for us to demonstrate this, as well as for us to insure all our products follow strict halal dietary and ingredient protocols, was to get officially halal-certified by a reputable certifier.”

On choosing IFANCA as that certifier, “IFANCA is the leading and most trusted certification organization for halal products among US Fortune 500 Companies. Also, we were encouraged by the fact that IFANCA has high integrity—that it is a totally independent certifier, not associated or owned by any halal manufacturers.”

Since all Saffron Road products have been certified halal from the beginning, it’s not easy to say exactly what the effect of halal certification has had on the demand for their products, but Durrani says, “We know our major retailers prefer it.”

Knowing that offering only halal products was the brand mission for Saffron Road, “all products were developed with that in mind, so for us obtaining the certification was not difficult.” Durrani admits, “However, it did require us to be very selective in terms of our supply, sourcing, and manufacturing facilities—especially since we are also one hundred percent hand-slaughtered, antibiotic free, and hormone free.”

Saffron Road makes extra effort to communicate with halal consumers in a variety of ways. They are very active online, across social media, as well as in the Muslim community. “We work with popular websites and bloggers like zabihah.com, My Halal Kitchen, Fauzia’s Kitchen Fun, The Muslim Ad Network, etc.” Durrani continues, “We also attend consumer events like AMCC (American Muslim Consumer Consortium) and ISNA’s (Islamic Society of North America) Annual Convention each year. And, we give back through organizations like Islamic Relief USA and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.”

Each year during Ramadan and Eid, all Saffron Road products are on price promotion at many of their retailers. Last year, Saffron Road partnered with Whole Kids Foundation to help bring salad bars to underprivileged schools through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program. For every Saffron Road product purchased during Ramadan at Whole Foods Market, Saffron Road donated five percent (approximately $0.25 per item) to Whole Kids Foundation with the goal to help fund salad bars in impoverished areas of the United States, especially schools with large percentages of under-represented kids of color. “As a result of the very successful give back initiative,” Durrani proudly states, “we were able to grant four salad bars—one for each of the middle schools in the Peoria, Illinois, school district.”

 

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