1-Is halal food common in Turkey? What is the estimated number of halal and tayyib certified companies?
Halal food awareness is not yet widespread in our country. If the awareness of the Muslim consumer was high, the producers and sellers would be more diligent in making their products halal certified. To date, nearly 1600 companies have seen this need and applied for certification. Only 550 of these have been able to obtain certificates for their 16 000 products. Others could not meet the halal and tayyib conditions or could not continue. But new applications continue.
2- Which sectors can get halal certificate?
It includes food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical manufacturers, catering, restaurant, textile, logistics and hotel operators sectors. Finance sector may be added in the future.
3-What is required for a product to be halal and tayyib?
The concept of Halal Food is included in the documents of the International Commission on the Codex Alimentarius in the sense of “food allowed in accordance with Islamic rules” and defines it as ” “A product that does not contain any element prohibited by Islamic rules; is prepared, processed, transported and stored in places or devices free of these elements; is not in direct contact with any food produced outside of these situations during the preparation, processing, transportation and storage stages.”
4-How do you interpret the halal food market in Turkey?
The people of Turkey, along with all its segments, were able to notice the global halal food market late, and it has damaged both itself and the world Muslim community. It is trying to close this gap with the understanding that better lose the saddle than the horse (expression means; where a loss is returned is a profit.)
5-Have foreign halal food brands entered the Turkish market?
Foreign halal food brands may have entered with luxury consumer goods. However, it has a very small share in total. It is an important problem that nearly 100% of the additives used by our domestic companies in their production are foreign and often suspicious in terms of halal. For this reason, domestic and national production cannot be sufficient. We must realize the production system in accordance with the slogan “Halal, local and national”.
6-What percent of the market belongs to halal food products?
According to our calculations, 18% of the total market is currently halal.
7-What kind of work do you do on behalf of GIMDES?
From 7 to 70, we are faced with a largely unconscious society. For this reason, we are trying to carry out our work in seven sections.
These are:
- Certification
- Education Mobilization (Dar’ul Halal Madrasah)
- Halal Dunya Markets (Supermarket Chain)
- Halal Finance (Karz-I Hasen Fund)
- International Relations and Communication
- World Halal Council
- Our Social Media and Websites
- Our Annual International Conference and Fair Organization.
Dr. Hüseyin Kami BÜYÜKÖZER
