A Growing, Confusing Market for Halal Food

Tapping into a growing Muslim American population, the market for food products lawful to eat under Islamic regulations has boomed, with some industry leaders predicting billions of dollars in U.S. sales.

But different interpretations of what Muslims consider halal, or religiously sanctioned, has led to confusion, misunderstanding and even fraud, prompting some states to step in with regulations.

"Halal is the new kosher," said Jalel Aossey, director of Midamar, an Iowa-based halal food supplier and distributor. "The challenge is whose definition you're going to follow. For some people, as long as there is no pork or alcohol, it is halal. Others demand animals must be slaughtered by a Muslim who says: 'In the name of Allah, Allah is great." '

Still others, such as Adnan Aldayel, founder of Dakota Halal Foods, a large slaughtering house in Harvey, N.D., say the feed given to animals cannot have pork or other animal byproducts to be halal.

Aossey said many Muslims have resorted to eating non-halal or kosher food, but his company's research shows that 92 percent of Muslim Americans would eat only halal if it were widely available.

But getting access to halal food remains difficult in many parts of the country.

Zarina Rasheed, a physician in Beckley, W.Va., said no halal meat was available in her area so Muslims used to buy their meat from a Christian butcher they called Brother Tony.

"He agreed to say he would kill the animal in the name of the God of Abraham," she said of the butcher.

Then competition for the halal market emerged.

"Now a Muslim company from North Carolina comes to the mosque once a month, and we all get our meat from [it]," Rasheed said.

Several leaders in the halal food industry estimate a potential multibillion-dollar market in the United States.

They base that on an estimated Muslim population of 7 million, although some estimates are much lower and no census figures indicate with certainty the number of U.S. Muslims.