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Thursday, September 17, 2009

How reliable is Ifanca??

In November 2000, Mohammed Mazhar Husseini, co-founder and former executive director of Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), a major halal certifying body in North America that is widely accepted as providing quality certification by many Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, officially put in his resignation to the organization that he helped create nearly 30 years ago.

“They (IFANCA) are interested in charging fees and certifying products (as halal) and getting commission,” he said in an interview with Sound Vision, an Islamic information website.

Husseini noted that in earlier years the organization was more education-oriented and community based in offering workshops and organizing seminars on Halal food issues, something that no longer takes place. Offering more insight into the practices creating problems in the halal food industry, a book published in 2003 by Mian Riaz and Muhammad Chaudry, entitled “Halal Food Production,” agrees that a number of the products that international companies are marketing as Halal are not as permissible as one might think



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