Halal food testing kit might launch in the UK

Halal food in the UK has recently been a touchy subject, from news that some chicken sold as halal actually contained pork to the national media sensationalising reports that the UK public are being stealthily fed halal and kosher meat.

Now a start up company in France has launched a new food testing kit which will allow the general public to test their food to check if it contains pork.

As The Grocer reports

Halal Test, launched in France today (27 Oct) by French start-up Capital Biotech, uses immunochromatography — the same technology used for pregnancy tests — to detect traces of pork in food, cosmetics and medicines.

Co-founder Abderrahmane Chaoui said the portable test, which costs €6.90 each or €125 for a pack of 25, had already attracted “considerable interest” ahead of the launch, with several companies contacting him about distributing in the UK and further afield.

Halal Test is currently available only in France through traditional retail channels or online, however the UK was a “very interesting market” for the entrepreneur and his business partner Jean-Francois Julien “due to its large Muslim population”.

Whilst this is an interesting development and use of technology what this company, and many Muslims, fail to understand is that meat does not become halal simply because it was slaughtered in a certain way whilst a prayer is being said.

As we talked about in the past, the animal must be treated with respect and humanity throughout its life for it be considered halal and we do not need a testing kit to tell us that a £3 baby chicken sold in halal butchers fails that test badly.