Ensure food safety at home first to grab halal market: Business leaders
Bangladesh has to ensure food safety and quality in the domestic market first to enter the global halal food market, business leaders said today (12 May).
For that, coordination is required among the food producers, marketers, and government, they said at a meeting of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
The businessmen called for developing an ecosystem to ensure compliance in every step of halal food production, processing and marketing.
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"Considering halal food's health benefits, it is getting popular among non-Muslims and Muslims across the globe. Several countries have already created a niche in the global halal food market. Bangladesh also has immense potential in this market," FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam said at the meeting of the trade body's standing committee on halal food.
He said it is important to have well-defined policies to develop the halal industry in the country.
To simplify halal food certification process and make it credible, the business leaders suggested that the government create a separate body for the job.
Currently, the Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) and the Islamic Foundation provide halal food certificates in the country.
Echoing them, Md Amin Helay, FBCCI's senior vice-president, asked the committee members to submit specific written proposals for developing halal industry in Bangladesh, which he said, would be put forward to policymakers.
Salahuddin Yusuf, the standing committee's chairman, presided over the meeting. FBCCI Director Muntakim Ashraf Titu is the committee's director-in-charge.
Other directors, Harun-Or- Rashid, Niaz Ali Chisty and Syed Md Bakhtiar, General Secretary Md Alamgir, among others, were also present at the meeting.
