October 23, 2014

New French product detects pork in halal food

Sometimes there's no guarantee that food packed as "halal" contains no pork.  Consumer vigilance among France's 6.5 million Muslims has heightened especially after supposedly halal sausages from the food company Knacki Herta were withdrawn from supermarkets in 2011 after tests showed the presence of pork.

Now France's practicing Muslims can be assured of what they eat with the new invention called Halaltest, which is already on sale in the market.

A brainchild of 25-year-old Abderrahmane Chaoui and his classmate Jean-François Julien, 27, Halaltest is claimed to detect the presence of pork in any food and alcohol in any beverage.

To test a piece of meat such as sausage, you just place a portion of the food in a small flask and put a small amount of hot water. Chaoui said that if two red lines appear, it means "we have a pork present" but that if only one bar appears, it means it meets the standards of Islamic consumption.

He said the Halaltest can also be used with beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to detect alcohol.

The product sells for EUR6.90 (US$8.70) per packet and a pack of 25 tests, for EUR125 (US$158.30).

The company that manufactures the test kit hopes to eventually modify the product to make it possible for one to recognise whether the animal from which the meat was obtained was slaughtered according to Islamic ritual, "based on blood oxygenation."