The Islamic Coordinating Council of Victoria estimated that in 2021 Australia exported halal certified red meat products were worth up to A$2.36 billion.
Recent estimates from the Global Islamic Economy Report have also estimated that the global Muslim demand for food and beverages at the time was worth over $US 1.17 trillion, with estimates that it could almost double by 2030.
As an export focussed red meat processing industry, catering to the halal certified red meat export sector has been an opportunity not to be ignored.
But that is not always as simple as it seems as the halal sector along with great benefits can also bring complexities and costs.
For practising Muslims, to eat red meat it must have come from animals that have been "halal slaughtered".
Halal describes what is permitted for Muslims to eat under the precincts of Islam and are a set of laws codified in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book.
Halal however is based on interpretations of the Quran and these can differ from one country to another.
This can make meeting individual country halal requirements more complex.
Australia's health and hygiene standards meet, if not exceed, any technical requirements under Halal.
Meeting religious slaughter requirements and then guaranteeing that product won't be mixed with non halal product further down the processing chain requires an extra investment and cost in certification, product segregation and packaging.
Making the grade
As a non Muslim country, the integrity of Australia's halal slaughter and product segregation system comes under much greater scrutiny than might otherwise be the case.
The fact that the Australian processing sector has not only been able to establish the highest level of integrity worldwide for its halal system, but maintain that accolade under the highest levels of scrutiny, is a credit to all involved.
Australia is the only non Muslim country world wide where the government has become involved to underpin the integrity of the halal certification system.
The Australian Government Authorised Halal Program (AGAHP) is administered by the Department of Agriculture.
It requires that any Islamic organisation in Australia seeking to provide certification for Australian red meat exports must develop and maintain an "approved arrangement" that satisfies all current legislative and importing country requirements for halal certification.
Currently there are 24 halal certifying bodies listed on the DAFF website.
An added complication is that nine countries listed on the website such as Qatar and Malaysia will only accept some of those 24 certifying bodies and then some like Indonesia appoint certain certifiers to operate only in specific Australian states.
From time to time foreign government acceptance of specific certifiers can also change which can have a costly impact on product in the pipeline already approved by that certifier.
Saudi Arabia just last month advised DAFF that they were removing two certifiers from their list.
In July, Indonesia's Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency undertook an audit of the Australian system in preparation for changes in Indonesia's halal requirements that come into effect in 2024.
Global leaders
In finding the middle ground between traditional forms of Islamic slaughter and Australia's uncomprimising stand on animal welfare, Australia has been the global leader in the development and acceptance of pre-stunned slaughter procedures that meet Islamic slaughter requirements.
Australia's commitment over the last five decades in negotiating how Australian animal welfare standards can meet halal requirements has changed global standards for religious slaughter.
Over 40 countries now purchase halal certified red meat products from Australia in full acceptance of the Australian stunned slaughter halal standard.
That's not to say that it has been an easy road with many stumbling blocks along the way.
In the 1970's a delegation from Saudi Arabia first brought to the attention of the Australian Islamic community that there were both religious and economic benifits in exercising greater control over religious certification in Australia.
Since then there has been a process of evolution and change that has included Royal Commissions, Senate Inquiries, claims through the years of monopoly activity against some certifiers and accusations of restraint of trade impacting market access.
The upgraded standards over the last decade under the AGAHP, offer a new era of cooperation and understanding.
Today essentially all export sheep and goat plants and most beef export plants have a certified halal slaughter program which highlights how important this aspect of our export sector has become.
By committing all of a plants production to the halal slaughter program means there should be no issues about product separation when it comes to packing and certifying for halal markets.
That doesn't mean its all marketed as halal but the integrity of product that is, is maintained.
In the 1970's it was mainly a sheep and goat meat market with a focus on the Middle East.
With the economic growth of beef eating Islamic economies like Indonesia and Malaysia, together with the growth in Islamic communities within major western economies like the US and Europe, it has seen the demand for halal certified meat products continue to expand.
The demand for halal co-products from all species has also continued to increase especially over the last decade as a result of global migration of Islamic communities.
AMIC member Jon Hayes from Wadonga Abattoir in NSW has been a tireless international advocate for our Halal certification system for the last 30 years and has attended over a dozen World Halal Forums in Asia, the Middle East and Europe extolling its virtues.
He believes Australia's successful trade has been built on the integrity unpinning the official Australian halal mark. Mr Hayes says that's been a consistent message from every world halal forum he's attended.
