IslamQuick Halal test device determines whether food contains pork
There are more than a billion Muslims on Earth, and many of them observe the Halal strictures, making the Halal segment of the food market a multi-billion dollar segment – worth $6.8 billion in France alone. A French start-up is now offering Muslims – and observant Jews, for that matter – a portable device which would allow them to find out whether a dish they have ordered or the food product they have bought contains pork.
There are more than a billion Muslims on Earth, and many of them observe the Halal strictures, making the Halal segment of the food market a multi-billion dollar segment – worth $6.8 billion in France alone. A French start-up is now offering Muslims – and observant Jews, for that matter – a portable device which would allow them to find out whether a dish they have ordered or the food product they have bought contains pork.
Capital Biotech says its Halal Test device determines, within ten minutes, whether a food contains pork meat, which is forbidden for Muslims and Jews.
Co-founder Jean-Francois Julien told Le Point that the company, which was launched only a few months ago, has already received orders worth $135,000, a “surprise” according Julien.
The company notes that the test, which uses the company’s disposable, one-use device costing €6.90, does not constitute a comprehensive Halal test, because Halal rules govern the manner in which the animal was slaughtered, information the device cannot provide.
The test “allows you to dispel a one-off doubt, for example when you are on holiday or when a new ‘Halal’ product hits the market,” said Julien.
To test a dish or a product, the user mixes a small amount with hot water and inserts a small strip into the mixture. The strip tests for pork proteins and takes less than ten minutes.
TV5 Monde quotes Abbas Bendali from marketing firm Solis, who said that France’s five million Muslims have witnessed several food scandals — in 2011, for example, “Halal” sausages were found to contain pork — and want to be sure they are not eating forbidden food.
Capital Biotech sys it expects 70 percent of its sales to be to professionals and businesses who want a quick way of testing whether food is suitably for non-pork eaters.
Consumers may be deterred by the relatively high price for a disposable, one-use device, Bendali said. “It’s difficult to invest seven euros to test a bowl of pasta that costs three,” he said.
Muslims are more reassured by “a genuine Halal certificate” from a recognized religious authority, he said.
The company says it is now going beyond pork to develop reference for tests on all types of food allergies. It plans to launch a range of tests for soya, egg, or almonds — all potential allergens — in ready meals. The firm will then begin to market tests for gluten, peanut, or milk. In the future, the start-up plans to extend its quick-fire testing to pharmaceutical products.
Faycal Bennatif, marketing director of the world’s leading biological analysis group Eurofins, told AFP it was not down to the consumer to perform quality tests on food products.
He said that in the wake of the horsemeat scandal which rocked Europe last year, Eurofins has been approached with requests to test meat products, but has not developed a quick-fire test.
“We work with DNA sequencing in the lab which is not at all the same method,” said Bennatif, adding he was “dubious” as to how efficient the new quick tests were.
Capital Biotech says it already has its eye on the next market by securing domain names for “kosher tests.”
