Halal

Halal in the United States

Established in 1974, Midamar Corporation was the first halal company in the United States. It was also the first company to distribute U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval-stamped protein products to the Middle East and southeast Asia. Another first for this Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company was slaughtering halal beef. Midamar is located where the oldest mosque in the United States still stands. The descendants of Muslims who settled in Iowa in 1900 recognized a need for the production of halal beef and chicken products for American Muslims, so this area has since been a U.S. center of production of halal products.

Major hotels, airlines, restaurants, and hospitals purchase halal-certified products. Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, grains, soups, and cosmetics also have an interest in these products for their customers. The appeal of the halal market took off in 1991 and has grown ever since.

The Islamic Certification Agency (ISA) was established in 1975 but applied for nonprofit status in 2004. There have been many investigative reports done on Midamar and ISA because of an apparent conflict of interest. Three of the four ISA board members are members of Midamar's Aossey family. Some questions have also been raised about Midamar's slaughtering methods. Do they just supply the products or actually slaughter and produce them according to Islamic law? It is not only necessary for food to be approved to be shipped within the United States, but it is important that halal-certified foods are accepted by foreign governmental approval bodies, too.

Two other U.S. halal-certified companies are the Stockton, California-based Islamic Meat and Poultry Company and the Halal Products Certification Institute, also located in California. Established in 1986, the Islamic Meat and Poultry Company does hand-slaughtering and meat processing according to Islamic sharia. Halal Products Certification Institute, formed in 2011, became the first company to globally distribute halal consumer products such as perfume, cosmetics, and toiletries. The company was started by Muslim scientists and intellectual scholars well versed in Islamic law.

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