According the media reports, the government has decided to launch crack down on products using alcohol and pork derivatives as ingredients. The foreign brand products are imported in violation of the country’s laws and are available in chains of supermarkets and departmental stores, sprawling in various mega cities of the country. A craze to buy foreign made food items, and even biscuits, sweets, jam and jelly is on the rise and store shelves are filled with costly foreign made products, using pork flavor and colours. However, it is good omen that now some stores have started to keep European brands of chicken soup and jam and jelly away from the shelves from their chains. Hence, the foreign made sweets and chicken soup packets, that fall foul of halal laws, are disappearing from shops as the government is looking to purge stores of products prohibited under the strict Islamic food credentials.
Instead of concentrating on the import of prohibited items, the government should encourage the country’s food manufacturers to produce halal food and enhance exports to Gulf States. Currently, a long list of prohibited products is available, but the government has identified nearly 20 imported food products which it considers are not halal, or permitted under the Islamic law.
The country, where 97 percent of the population is Muslims, prohibited food items is bought out of simplicity or the people take it for granted that the product they are buying would have halal ingredients. But there are unscrupulous elements who encourage import of haram food in connivance with black sheep in the customs department. The ingredients include alcohol, gelatine derived from pork, or extracts from chickens not sacrificed in accordance with Islamic methods. The officials at the provincial food departments are least concerned about the ingredients of the imported food products and are interested only to fill their pockets with illegal gratification. The shopkeepers seem to have no obligation to pull products from the shelves. Some are withdrawing the prohibited food items voluntarily.
Some supermarkets have put the burden of buying halal food on their customers’ shoulders by telling them to check the ingredients before buying any product.
The government is preparing a draft law to sort out which products are halal and which are not, and has set up an inspection service. The government is also planning to set up Pakistani Halal Authority with the goal of boosting food and agricultural exports to the Gulf States. According to estimates, the worldwide halal food market is $700 billion. There is a need to create awareness among the people about the halal food products.
