| Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) President Hulusi Şentürk has announced the TSE will start issuing halal food certificates for eligible products this fall. | |
| Speaking at a press conference on Thursday in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, Şentürk said the TSE has already started working on having its authority recognized by other Muslim nations. He said an official meeting in Cameroon that was attended by standardization representatives from 33 Muslim countries last month was the venue for TSE to launch the process. “There is a $930 billion halal food market worldwide. We have to enable Turkish businesses to enter this market with an advantage,” he said. (source) Şentürk, who also heads the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC) of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), told the media that international standards for halal food were determined at the SMIIC meeting in Cameroon in mid-May. He noted, however, that non-Muslims are also equally interested in being recognized as official authorities to issue halal certificates. “The EU is now planning this. What they have written in official documents is that they are expecting 600 million euros of revenue from yet-to-be-issued certificates. This is just the market share the EU is expecting to reach. I tell you what will happen if we do not enter this market. The hundreds of millions of euros in revenue Turkey-wide will be earned by Europeans because they will be the ones giving those certificates,” he said, adding that what is even more worrisome is that Turkish companies risk missing significant opportunities in the Islamic food market. “Recognizing the commercial impact here, everyone should support us in this endeavor,” he said. “We want to build cooperative relationships with industrialists and particularly with traders and industry chambers. We can secure a very substantial share in the global halal food market and this can be a very good source of revenue for Turkey,” Şentürk said. Source : http://todayszaman.com/news-247603-turkeys-standards-body-to-issue-halal-food-certificates.html - June 16, 2011 | |
