2 Purefoods products certified halal by UAE

Purefoods Hormel Company's (PHC) on Friday announced that it is is coming out with two Halal-certified products recognized by the United Arab Emirates. In a statement, the food firm said that its corned beef and chunkee corned beef products became the first and only Philippine brands to be recognized as Halal by the UAE government. The products are aimed at expanding the food company's marketing efforts in the Middle East. They will go on sale at all supermarkets owned and operated by Al Maya Lals, one of the Arab country's largest retail chains. "This marks the beginning of a more aggressive foray into the Halal market for Purefoods. Being the only Philippine brand recognized as Halal by the UAE gives us a strategic foothold in this very lucrative market,"PHC General Manager Noel Tempongko said in the statement. Halal, Arabic for "permissible," means meat that has been slaughtered in the manner prescribed by the shari'a. Al Maya Lals owns and operates 19 supermarkets in some of the emirate's busiest and most populous cities, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It has been the local distributor of Purefoods products since 1996. "This is a major development for our partnership with Purefoods," said Al Maya Lals Director Ashok Purswani. With Purefoods Corned Beef and Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef now officially recognized as Halal by the government, we will be able to cater not only to our loyal Filipino customers but also to the much larger Muslim market," he added. Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef and Purefoods Corned Beef were certified Halal by the Islamic Da'wah Council of the Philippines (IDCP), the only Halal-certifying body in the Philippines recognized by the UAE. It is also a member of the World Halal Council based in Jakarta, Indonesia. PHC generates close to P50 million in annual sales from the UAE. In the past, it exported mostly non-Halal products such as Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs, the number one brand in the Philippines. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), totaling over 150,000, make up the bulk of the Purefoods market in the UAE. The company is also keen on penetrating other OFW-rich countries in the Middle East. These include Saudi Arabia, the biggest market in the Middle East with close to a million OFWs, and Kuwait. By early 2007, PHC plans to export Halal-certified Purefoods Corned Beef and Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef to Kuwait. The global Halal market is estimated at 1.4 billion consumers, and industry analysts project its growth at 10 - 20 % annually. - GMANews.TV