MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVLOPMENT OF VIETNAM

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVLOPMENT OF VIETNAM ADOPTED HALAL SLAUGHTERING METHODS AND PROCEDURES AND POTENTIAL FOR VIETNAM HALAL SEAFOOD EXPORT Tong Xuan Chinh Department of Livestock Production Email: chinhtx.cn@mard.gov.vn

I. HALAL SLAUGHTERING METHODS & PROCEDURES ADOPTED IN VIETNAM1. The definition of Halal food2. Creatures allowed to be Halal food3. Slaughtering process for Halal foodII. OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT 1. The Islamic community in Vietnam2. Potential for Halal food markets3. Potential for Vietnam seafood products accessing Halal food markets4. 0pportunities and challenges for Vietnam Small & Medium Seafood Enterprises CONTENTS

HALAL SLAUGHTERING METHODS & PROCEDURES ADOPTED IN VIETNAM The definition of halal food: Halal food means food permitted under the Islamic Law and should fulfill the following conditions: • Does not consist of or contain anything which is considered to be unlawful according to Islamic Law; • Has not been prepared, processed, transported or stored using any appliance or facility that was not free from anything unlawful according to Islamic Law; and • Has not in the course of preparation, processing, transportation or storage been in direct contact with any food that fails to satisfy 2 points mentioned above.

CREATURES ALLOWED BEING HALAL FOOD Sources of Halal foods Animals Animals can be divided into two categories: • Land animals • Aquatic animals

CREATURES ALLOWED BEING HALAL FOOD Land animals: All land animals are halal as food except the following: • Animals that are not slaughtered according to the Halal food; • Pigs and dogs and their descendants; • Animals with long pointed teeth or tusks which are used to kill prey such as tigers, bears, elephants, cats, monkeys, etc; • Birds with talon or predator birds; • Pests such as rats, centipedes, scorpions, snakes, crows and other similar animals; • Animals that are forbidden to be killed in Islam such as ants, bees, woodpeckers, etc; and • Creatures that are considered repulsive such as lice, flies, worms, etc.

CREATURES ALLOWED BEING HALAL FOOD Aquatic animals: Aquatic animals are those which live in water and cannot survive outside it, such as fish. All aquatic animals are halal except those that are poisonous, intoxicating or hazardous to health. Animals that live both on land and water such as crocodiles, turtles and frogs are not halal.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Place of slaughter: • The place of slaughter shall be used for the purpose of the slaughter of halal animals only. • The place of slaughter of halal animals shall be fully separated from the place of slaughter of non-halal animals to the effect that the halal slaughtered animals shall not be contaminated or come into direct contact with najis.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Animals to be slaughtered: • The animal to be slaughtered has to be an animal that is halal. • The animal to be slaughtered shall be alive or deemed to be alive at the time of slaughter. • Animals to be slaughtered shall be healthy and have been approved by the competent authority.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughterer: • The slaughterer shall be a Muslim who is mentally sound and fully understands the fundamental rules and conditions related to the slaughter of animals in Islam. • The slaughterer shall not be in ihram.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughtering lines, tools and utensils • Slaughtering lines, tools and utensils shall be used for the purpose of halal slaughter only. • Slaughtering knife shall be sharp. • Bones nails and teeth shall not be used as slaughtering tools.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughtering Procedures: • The slaughterer must be an adult Muslim, and holder of a current slaughtering license accorded by Meat Hygiene Service. • The knife to be used must be razor sharp; the blade must be straight and smooth, and free from any serration, pits, notches or damage. The length of the blade must be at least four times the width of the neck of the animal to be slaughtered. The blade must not flex noticeably whence in use. • The animal must not be anaesthetized, stunned to be killed or otherwise rendered wholly insensible prior to slaughter. It must be conscious and alive when it is slaughtered. • Poultry and other birds must be restrained either in an upright or prone position for slaughter.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughtering Procedures (continued): • Lamb, sheep, goats, calves (of less than 60kg dead weight) and other similar sized animals must be placed on a cradle for slaughter and if hung on shackles all efforts are made that they do not injure or bruise themselves. • Larger bovines, equines, deer and similar sized animals must be restrained in a standing position for slaughter. • The act of slaughter must be done with a simple swipe across the neck. The cut should not be any deeper than necessary to sever the carotid artery, jugular vein and windpipe and must not sever the spinal cord. The slaughterer must pronounce aloud the Arabic words, Bismillah, AllahuAkbar (in the name of Allah, Allah is the greatest) in a reverential tone, when slaughtering. • The Jugular vein, windpipe and carotid artery should be cut by a single swipe of a sharp knife, without damage to the spinal cord.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughtering Procedures (continued): • After being slaughtered, lambs, sheep, goats and other similar sized animals must be restrained in situ for at least 20 seconds. Bovine and other similarly sized animals must be restrained in situ for 60 seconds. Poultry and other birds must not be subjected to any further processing for at least 20 seconds. During the aforementioned period they must not be further injured, nor subjected to unnecessary stress or pain. Indeed it is desirable that efforts are made to clam them during this period. • The slaughterer must clean the knife after slaughter of every animal or bird and must check that the knife still conforms to above rules. If damaged, the knife must be replaced. If it is no longer razor sharp, it must be sharpened, say, on a flat stone and approved by an HFA inspector before further use. Note that the knife must not be sharpened in sight of animals awaiting slaughter. • The slaughterer or supervisor must ensure that all the flowing blood has been drained from the chicken or ovine or bovine carcass.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Slaughtering Procedures (continued): • The water used during the poultry de-feathering process must be at the lowest practical temperature in vogue. • No dorsal cut is allowed, since this method would slice or sever the spinal cord and the bird or the animal is rendered incapacitated to convulse to drain the flowing blood out of the carcass. • According to Hukum Syara’ the slaughter act shall sever the trachea, esophagus and both the carotid arteries and jugular veins to hasten the bleeding and death of the animals.

SLAUGHTERING PROCESS FOR HALAL FOOD Scalding For poultry, scalding shall only be carried out on animals that are actually dead as a result of halal slaughter. Stunning: If stunning is used during the slaughtering process, these procedures must be followed: • Stunning will result with the animal being temporarily unconscious; • The stunner is of a type which cannot penetrate or break the animal’s head; and • It must not cause permanent brain damage or give rise to death or physical disability to the animal.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT The Islamic community in Vietnam: • The Islam was introduced into Vietnam, mostly for the Cham Ethnic community at the beginning of the tenth century. • The native Muslim in Vietnam has about 64.000 believers and divided in two groups: The Bani group (old Islam) and the Islam group (new Islam). • They mainly live in Central Southern region, East southern Region and West southern region. The majority of this community is the Cham Nation. In 1992, the Reprehensive Board of Islam in Ho Chi Minh City was legally founded that issues Halal food certification nationwide, which is generally accepted by most of the Islam countries. • Up to now, Vietnam has had 498 enterprises under the fishery sector of which 235 ones belong to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers – VASEP of which 23 members has received the Halal Food certificates

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Potential for Halal food markets: • The worldwide Muslim community has about 1.5 billion, contributing to 25% of the world population, living in 112 countries of which the most populous regions are: 300 million people in Asia, 200 billion in Mid East, more than 8 million ones in North America, ect. • Countries have the highest Muslim people are Indonesia with 180 million people, India with 140 million ones, Pakistan with 130 million ones and Malaysia with 14 million ones. • The world population of the Muslim community is estimated to reach to 2 billion in 2010. The annual average birth rate of this community is 2.5% compared with 2.3% of that of the world. Yearly, the world Islam community uses 422 billion USD for Halal food in 2008 and intends to increase up to 500 billion in 2010.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Potential for Vietnam seafood products accessing Halal food markets: • In 2008, Vietnam's total seafood volume is estimated at 4.58 million tones, the highest ever figure. This includes 2.45 million tones from aquaculture, up 15.3% against 2007 and 2.13 million tones from catching. • Especially, the sector bagged home US$4.5 billion from exports, up US$700 million or 19.6% against last year. • Vietnam's seafood products have been exported to over 150 countries and territories including many new markets in Africa and the Middle East. • Shrimp maintains the top seafood export product. The country exported over 176,000 tones of shrimps in the first eleven months of the year, earning US$1.5 billion, up 20.4% in quantity and 9% in export turnover compared to the same period last year.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Potential for Vietnam seafood products accessing Halal food markets (continued): • Total export turnover of 585,000 tones of tra and basa catfish products in the January-November period was US$1.33 billion, up 66.6% in quantity and 48.84% in turnover against the same period last year. • Exports of other products such as cuttlefish, tuna and others also gain high growths. Exports to traditional export markets remain stable. • As of the end of November 2008, EU continued to be the biggest importer of Vietnam's seafood, accounting for 25.35% of the country's total seafood export turnover, up 28% in value compared to the same period last year. Japan ranks second, accounting for over 18% of Vietnam's total export turnover and up 11.5% year-on-year, followed by the US, accounting for 16.2% of Vietnam's total export turnover and up 3.85% year-on-year. • New export markets such as Russia, Ukraine, and Africa also saw high growths, opening up a good opportunity to explore new export markets of the Vietnam's seafood sector.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Opportunities for Vietnam Small & Medium Enterprises (SME): • The food industry in Vietnam has attracted attention from other countries in terms of foreign direct investment (FDIs), including those from Islamic countries. In mid- 2008, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) pledged to invest a sum of US$ 1.0 billion in Vietnam’s food industry. • Direction in consumption shift from animal derived proteins to fishery-derived ones. • The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam: Crop production, livestock production, forestry, hydraulic and dyke systems and rural development.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Challenges for Vietnam Small & Medium Enterprises (SME): • Lack of infrastructure; • Unmodern post-harvest technologies; • Problems of food safety; • Ineffective marketing and trade promotion; • Low product diversification.

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Strategic solutions for overcome the global financial crisis: • Improve infrastructure; • Innovate post-harvest technologies; • Enhance food safety; • Marketing and trade promotion directing to Halal food (seafood products). • Product diversification:

OVERVIEW ON VIETNAM HALAL FOOD EXPORT Recommendations for cooperation between ASEAN member and Vietnam on Halal food production: • Increase trade promotion on competitive agro-products of Vietnam as tea, pepper and aquatic products. • Halal food production technology and certification systems. • Annual ASEAN workshop on Halal food held.

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MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVLOPMENT OF VIETNAM