Halal Expo Philippines 2024: A Landmark Success
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Milan – Many Italian Muslims may have interpreted O’Tacos’ announcement in 2020 that it would sell its halal-certified French-style vegetables and meat wraps in Italy as a sign that halal was becoming widespread in their country. According to Yassin Baradai, founder of Milan-based Meem Communication, who oversees the chain’s Italian marketing campaign, O’Tacos’ first Italian outpost will open in January 2022 in Rome (delayed by Covid-19), and more vacancies in 2022 are planned in major Italian cities such as Milan and Bologna.
In a country with an estimated 1.6 million Muslims, O’Tacos isn’t the only Muslim-friendly retail food initiative aimed at halal consumers. In January 2020, Baradai launched Deenary.com, an Italian e-commerce platform that sells halal-certified cosmetics and food, as well as appropriate attire.
“The idea for the site came from the need to directly target Italy’s Muslim consumers, whose demands for certified halal products have been largely overlooked in Italy’s mass retail channels,” he said.
Even though Italy is Europe’s third-largest economy, the national halal food market is still immature and patchy, he said, especially in comparison to the more advanced markets in the UK, France, and Germany, which all effectively cater to occupant Muslim consumers. In the aggregate, however, that patchwork is already quite large. According to Mohamed Elkafrawy, CEO of the World Halal Authority, there are about 500 halal-certified small-to-large food manufacturers in Italy.
“The halal market in Italy is worth $5 billion and 80% of businesses have obtained international certification from the WHA in Italy,” he told Salaam Gateway. “These foods and companies have had the opportunity to increase their turnover by at least 20% since receiving halal certification, but many companies have far exceeded these thresholds since certification.”
And, despite the need for more progress, this market’s incorporation has been tightening. SmartHalal.it was founded in 2018 with the goal of selling halal-certified premium Italian beef and turkey charcuterie directly to customers in Italy, Europe, and the Middle East.
“When we began, Italian food excellence was not easily accessible to the Italian and international Islamic communities and the site’s aim was to provide Italian products of excellence that are finally certified halal,” founder and CEO Omar Vincenzo told Salaam Gateway. Business has been good during the pandemic, he said: “While we had a decline in wholesale sales, this was covered by the consistent growth in B2C sales.”
According to Baradai, the majority of Muslims in Italy buy Halal-certified products from the country’s thousands of small supermarkets, which are largely stocked with imported products from Morocco, France, Spain, and Germany. He added that it is more difficult to find halal-certified products produced in Italy in major supermarkets, though this is starting to change.
“There are a lot of halal-certified foods that are made in Italy, but they are not given enough shelf space in large retail environments and on restaurant menus, nor are they marketed as such for lots of reasons, including very little awareness of halal principles and practices and weak commercial attention to resident Muslim consumers,” he said. “This is largely a marketing problem.”
While domestic demand for halal food is still unmet, a growing number of Italian food producers, particularly those with a significant global involvement, have incorporated halal certification to access international Islamic markets, according to Baradai.
According to Elkafrawy, the “Made in Italy” label is already well-known and gratefully received abroad, so products with DOP, IGP, Organic, and other Italian accreditations not only have a solid sales ability but are also in high demand. According to the industry association Federalimentare, Italy has the most food products with EU-accredited indication of source and geographical indication labels (315 foods and 526 wines), which ensure traceability and food quality and safety standards and are estimated to produce a turnover of EUR17 billion in 2021.
An increasing number of these items are also halal certified. In 2011, Mozzarella di Buffalo DOP and Pecorino Toscano DOP were among the first cheeses to receive halal certification.
Several Italian producers have followed suit. “Certainly, among the most requested Italian made products certified by WHA are dried pasta, all types of food preserves, vinegars, olive oils, as well as dried fruit, processed meats and cheeses,” Elkafrawy said. Examples of well-known global brands that have halal certification (although not necessarily from the WHA) are Barilla, De Cecco and La Molisana (dried pasta), Mutti, La Doria and LeDue Valli (canned tomatoes and sauces), Granarolo, Parmalat and Mukki (milk and dairy products), and San Pellegrino and Ferrarelle (bottled mineral water).
According to Elkafrawy, the market for halal certification has risen even more during the pandemic, and this is “probably due to the search for more ‘flourishing’ markets than the national one.” Indeed, Ferrarelle’s export manager, Gaspare Magnifico Fracaro, told Salaam Gateway that all production lines are halal-compliant, and Ferrarelle’s glass bottled mineral water has become decisive for entering and further infiltration of new markets, particularly in the Middle East’s rapid, top-quality markets.
“To date, we distribute to almost all the Gulf countries and, despite our recent entry there, we believe in the great potential of these markets, with long-term targeted market penetration strategies planned for the coming years.”
Halal certification added value and increased competitiveness, according to Giovanni Moratto, owner of Dolcefreddo Moralberti, an Italian pastry and sweets manufacturer.
“We already export to the Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and North African markets, and we are now looking to enter major far east markets like Malaysia and Indonesia because of their great potential.”
He told Salaam Gateway that his company has 70 halal-certified pastry products, “more than any other Italian bakery and pastry manufacturer in Italy.” Moralberti’s halal sweets are sold in Italy 70% of the time and abroad 30% of the time. “In some of Italy’s largest supermarket chains, such as Conad, Coop, and the French-owned Carrefour, we sell to both the food service and mass retail segments.” It’s no surprise that Tiramisù, Italy’s most popular dessert, is our best-selling halal product in Italy and around the world,” Moratto said.
