Most Ferrero chocolates halal-certified,
all factories to be halal ‘in two or three years’
FILE PHOTO: A woman takes a Ferrero Rocher
chocolate in Milan November 20, 2009. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandin
DUBAI - Family-owned Italian chocolate
company Ferrero has said that 33 of its products and 19 of its plants are
already halal-certified, a number that is set to grow.
“We have only few factories that are not
certified. In two or three years all our factories will be halal,” Moutaz
Abdullat, General Legal Counsel of Ferrero Gulf Countries told Salaam Gateway.
Ferrero operates 25 plants, according to its most recent available annual
report.
This is the first time the maker of Ferrero
Rocher, Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Pralines has made public its halal
credentials despite starting on the halal track around a decade ago.
“Our halal journey began in 2009 with two
plants being certified. By 2016-17, the number reached 14 and by 2019-20, 19
plants are expected to be halal-certified. In 2009, only four products were
halal-certified. In 2018, 33 have the certification,” said Abdullat at the
International Halal Industry Forum in Dubai on February 18.
All Ferrero products in the Middle East are
halal, said Abdullat.
“We don’t have a factory here in the Middle
East but our factory in Poland or in Italy produce the halal product. Halal
requirement is not just for the product but for the factory line and the
process,” said Abdullat.
The company also says on its website that
in some parts of the world, several Tic Tac flavours are kosher and
halal-certified.
“We, as a company, anticipated halal. We
knew that we need to do this now or later. We started the process and did it
globally,” added Abdullat, saying that consumers in countries such as
Indonesia, among others, demand halal certification.
Ferrero announced a turnover of 10.7
billion euros ($12.15 billion) for the year ended August 31, 2018, with 94
companies worldwide, and 25 operating manufacturing plants.
The Group’s products are present directly
or through authorised distributors in over 170 countries.
HALAL CERTIFICATION ‘PAYS OFF’
“We are living in a small world. This
(halal) pays off the investment,” said Abdullat, reiterating that customer
trust in the quality of the product is crucial.
Chocolate products often do not contain
animal products. However, halal certification of a chocolate means that it has
been tested and analyzed to ensure it does not contain any impermissible
ingredients. When products that may originate from impermissible sources are
used, such as rennet and gelatin, companies often specify that these are
halal-certified or halal ingredients.
When companies do not offer reassurance or
certifications that their products are halal, consumer groups tend to approach
them for clarification on each product.
U.S.-owned Hershey’s, for example, has said
its chocolates manufactured in Malaysia and China are certified.
Many other global names have long embraced
the halal requirement in order to comply with regulation and consumer demand in
their markets.
Nestl? claims to be the biggest halal
producer in the world, exporting halal products from its eight factories to
over 50 countries worldwide.
As chocolate companies target newer
markets, products that suit local sensibilities are required and halal
certifications helps pave the way to consumer hearts.
Mondelez International, which owns brands
such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Toblerone, Oreo, Chipsmore and Twisties won the
Best Halal Chocolate Bar at the Asia Halal Brand Awards 2017 (AHBA). Cadbury
Dairy Milk chocolates are certified halal by the Department of Islamic
Development Malaysia (JAKIM) since 2004.
In a statement, Swadheen Sharma, Managing
Director of Mondelez Malaysia said: “We understand how important halal is to
our consumers. Ensuring that all our products made here in Malaysia are halal
is something that we take very seriously.”
BACKLASH
However, while global names continue to
seek halal certification, labelling or even compliance with halal
specifications can cause Islamaphobic or right-wing backlash in some countries.
Cadbury Australia, for instance, does not
label its halal-certified candy and chocolate products, listing them instead on
its website, with a detailed FAQ, explaining, among other things, that: “There
have been no changes to these products; they were always inherently halal. As
well, there is no religious ritual involved in making these products”.
Cadbury UK faced a backlash for “Muslim
appeasement” which had its own thread on twitter #prayforcadbury.
In Australia, Cadbury explains:
“Certification on these products is generally because some of our business
customers, such as airlines, hospitals, clubs and other organisations providing
professional food service, require halal food for their customers. For this
reason, they require suppliers such as Nestl? to have halal certification as
independent confirmation that the food meets this standard. Without halal
certification, we are not able to supply to these customers.”
Most recently, in April 2018, Toblerone, a
Mondelez-owned brand, announced it received halal certification, immediately
sparking blowback from groups which called for boycotts despite the fact that
it did not label its products as halal.
So far, Ferrero has stayed away from
controversy. “It’s a food product. It’s meeting the requirement of halal.
Luckily, we did not face such things,” said Abdullat.
(Reporting by Shalini Seth, Editing by Emmy
Abdul Alim emmy.alim@refinitiv.com)
Link->https://www.salaamgateway.com/en/story/most_ferrero_chocolates_halalcertified_all_factories_to_be_halal_in_two_or_three_years_-SALAAM25022019072314/
|