HALAL Food in Taiwan

HALAL food, also spelled hallal or halaal, refers to what is permissible or lawful in traditional Islamic law. It is frequently applied to permissible food and drinks.

Taiwan isn't an Islamic country or to my acknowledgement, has very little to do with one of the largest religion in the world since there is too few of Muslims living in Taiwan comparing to the majority of traditional Taoism.

However, this stereotype has been overthrown after I set foot to "Taiwanese Food Show," a local trade show the mostly showcased traditional popular Taiwanese cuisines, happened to have a section displaying HALAL certified foods.

It is said that Muslims are going to be one of the greatest population on earth in near future, and due to the increasing immigrants from Southeast Asia to Taiwan, more and more hotels and restaurants see the opportunity of this market and decided to have their products certified.

Even the famous mango shaved ice, Ice Monster, which is entirely made out of fruit that doesn't necessarily have to obey the Quran doctrine but still has HALAL certificate just to let those visitors, students and immigrants from Muslim countries can have a place to enjoy the food without worrying too much.

It's still not a huge thing in Japan, of course, like many other food trends in the world, Japan is always a bit late. But it's definitely a new trend that's going to change the food industry little by little down the road. It's never too late for manufacturers to jump on this bandwagon and grasp the business opportunities. But places like Japan and Taiwan would have a lot to prepare and to face drastic changes in the manufacturing process, especially those products have meat derived ingredients involved.