OF all the opportunities available in the global halal market which is expected to reach US$3.5 trillion in 2023, halal food accounts for more than half, at US$1.9 trillion. Looking forward, IMARC Group – a global research firm – expects the market to reach US$3.9 trillion by 2027. This is where local Muslims believe Jamaica has the biggest opportunity to earn from exporting halal food to Muslim countries and to target an increasingly health-conscious consumer in non-Muslim countries.

According to IMARC Group, halal food refers to food items and beverages that are strictly prepared according to the rules underlined by the Islamic dietary law. According to this law, alcohol, blood, pork, byproducts of pork and blood, animals that are dead before slaughtering, and those not killed in the name of Allah are considered ‘haram’ or impermissible for consumption. Moreover, halal food products are packaged and stored in utensils, which have been cleaned as per the prescribed guidelines.

The meat segment of halal food globally is estimated to be worth over US$300 billion currently.

“Currently there’s a deficit in the market for halal meats,” Asma Dundee, a public health inspector and Muslim, told the audience at the recently held Empowerment Seminar and Business Expo. Right now, there are no reliable estimate for the size of the market in Jamaica, but Dundee said the deficit is expected to increase as the Muslim population in Jamaica grows. Most producers are small and unregulated.

“They don’t really ascribe to any particular standards…So what we do in order to fill this deficit is to provide a necessary support system to empower these small and medium enterprises.” The aim, she said, is to grow them beyond the local market to include the export market and processors for halal meats.

“We want them to be selling to like hotels, factories, retail chains, and so on and so forth. Basically, what we want is that we have so many persons out there who process and have meat byproducts.” She imagines a time when halal meat will be served in Jamaican treats like patties and even fast food restaurants.

She says to achieve that, the Muslim community is looking to create standards which halal meat producers should abide by.

“We need to have standards. We need to say to people, this is what we want. As our end product. We want to know that all of us are on the same page.”

These standards will go from how the animals are raised to being slaughtered and prepared and will be done in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.