"Halal" news and stories

Who does Campbell's Soup turn to when it needs products certified Halal for sale in Canada? The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which is responsible for making sure the product meets the conditions of Islamic law (it uses no pork and byproducts, the animals are properly slaughtered, it does not contain alcohol, contains no carnivorous animals or birds of prey, and is not contaminated with any of the former).

According to an ABC News story, conservative blogger Pamela Geller (she of the Ground Zero Islamic center opposition) has led a boycott of Campbell's products, claiming that the ISNA has been affiliated with terrorist groups. Yet Campbell has been assured by the State Department that ISNA is, according to a Campbell spokesman, "a reputable organization."

Visit ABC News for the whole story.

Growing up in Portland, OR, there wasn't much in the way of street food available around the city. Sure, there were a select few carts located directly around the big downtown office buildings, but they had very limited hours and were spottily placed. One of the things I looked forward to experiencing each summer, during our annual trip to Philadelphia to visit family, was the all the food carts on the street. They scented the air, lending the aroma of hot dogs, pickle relish and frying beef to the air in their direct proximity.

I'm currently in New York right now, attending a conference and hanging out a bit with some family. When I was getting ready to leave her house this morning, my cousin Betsy asked me where I was going. When I gave her the address, she seemed to shuffle through an index file stored in the back of her brain. Then she said, "There's a terrific Halal food cart on 53rd Street, right off 6th Avenue, with great, cheap food." I was a little boggled at her ability to pinpoint a food cart in a city the size of New York, but as she's lived here for the last 30+ years, I believed that she knew of what she spoke.

Pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world, in spite of the fact that its consumption is heavily restricted by religions like Islam and Judaism. Pork and pork fat are favorite ingredients of chefs and food processing companies because it can provide a good flavor and succulent texture to other products, usually meats, and has a high smoking point, which makes it a good choice for frying.One food processing company has developed a halal pork fat from "restructured vegetable fat" that should mimic the properties of real pork fat without pork. Called ADROGEL GR, the substitute fat is lower in fat than pork and primarily consists of vegetable oil and water, bound together into a white substance with the consistency of pork back fat. ADROGEL GR can be used in sausages, sauces and other places where food manufacturers regularly use pork fat, even in nonpork products.

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