Halal as a quality standard

By Vestnik Kavkaza

In Moscow at the Crocus Expo exhibition center the VI Moscow international exhibition-forum Moscow Halal Expo was held. It  was attended by more than 200 halal companies from Russia and from abroad. The organizer of the Moscow Halal Expo was the Council of Muftis of Russia with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow and the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade. The Exhibition-Forum Moscow Halal Expo has become the largest annual event of the halal industry, which brings together not only the meat sector, but also other food and fashion sectors, tourism, finance and medicine.

In the past few years interest in the Halal industry has been growing steadily. "One of the objectives of the exhibition is to show that Russia is actively developing the halal market. It is small, but large companies are already interested in it. If, five years ago, it was presented with one or two companies which produced halal lines, now it is hard to find a large manufacturer that does not think about how to make products under the label "Halal".

For us it is an opportunity to encourage businessmen who say that in Russia it is difficult to develop halal. In the exhibition hall there are many companies which conduct Islamic financial transactions and produce halal products, and service restaurants, and various other projects. And all this they do according to the requirements of Islam. But this is not necessarily Muslim. There is halal as a quality standard and a platform for interaction for all," explained the head of the Economics Department of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Director of the exhibition Madina Kalimullina.

"Halal is not just food, but it is primarily a means of safety, quality assurance, and, of course, environmentally friendly products and services. Today the number of companies is increasing, despite the fact that we are in crisis. However, the exhibition is still open, and today we are watching the active development of the halal industry in our country and active cooperation with representatives of the Arab-Islamic world," the deputy chairman of the Russian Mufti Council Rushan Abbyasov said.

"Our company is the leader of the paste market in Russia. Two years ago we opened a new line for the production of halal paste. The development plans of our company include production of meat baby food and ketchup, which we will also produce in the new line,’’ a  participant in the exhibition Tatiana Makarova days.

"We are present in almost all chain stores with our meat and sausage products. They are designed not only for Muslims. Our segment is average, above average pricing, but we count on the usual Russian buyer, regardless of their religion. We do clean, fresh, always good quality products," Director of Business Development Ecole, Kahraman Shabanov said.

"We are engaged in body painting with henna, engaged in training and supplying materials for this Indian art. We promote this beauty here. We have a branch in Kazan, where we also carefully select materials to make our Kazan girls happy," participant of the exhibition, Farida Mehendi says.

"We are here to highlight the possibility of hiking trails that came to us, to cooperate with us. We represent not only a place of pilgrimage, but also mountain honey, mineral water," says the manager of the state unitary enterprise Tour-Ex, Madina Halulaeva.

"We present here spices and Iranian spices, which are very popular in the Caucasus, in Central Asia. Now we will study the Russian market, which has great potential and possibilities. We'll find out what the prices are, and are going to enter the Russian market,"  Managing Director of Vendo Abadana, Sam Jalalyan promises.