Clearing the air on halal food in Japan

The recent signing of the memorandum ofcooperation (MoC) on “halal” matters between Malaysia and Japan marks anothermilestone in the excellent diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Entrepreneur Development Minister RedzuanYusof and Hiroshige Seko from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industrysigned the MoC on behalf of their governments.

Immediately after the signing, our ministerpursued a discussion with the Tokyo Olympic Council (TOC) head Tushiro Muto onthe issue of supplying halal food and beverages (F&B) from Malaysia for theupcoming Tokyo Olympics.

TOC, a professional body, was veryreceptive to this approach by a Malaysian minister. It readily acknowledgedthat it was aiming for 40-45% of the F&B at the Olympic Village and at itsplanned events to be halal certified and in tandem with all compliance.

Later, the minister officiated HalFestTokyo, a three-day event meant to showcase halal F&B, pharmaceutical andcosmetics production in Japan and Malaysia. More than 80 companies orparticipants were involved in the exhibition, almost half of whom wereMalaysians.

While the Japanese companies were keen intheir pursuit of producing halal F&B products for Japanese markets, asimilar conclusion could not be drawn from their Malaysian counterparts.

In his speech, the minister raised theissue of food processing and the need for a clear understanding of the Japanesefood chain and markets. Specifically, he spoke of making the process of foodproduction in Japan more halal than it is now.

He said Japanese food would remain thesame, only the process would become halal so that Muslims could consume avariety of Japanese dishes which they would otherwise not touch. These includeboth meat and non-meat products.

When the processing of food is not halal,Muslims can only consume a limited number of items on the menu. That is why thefocus here is on the process. His message was loud and clear: the menus do nothave to change, only the process.

Value added

With the participation of Malaysians in theF&B process and the halal certification to be done, hopefully Japanese foodproducers will follow the halal approach in addition to the organic and foodsource traceability programmes that they already have. This would boostconsumer confidence as far as halal food is concerned.

The halal component would add value to theoverall food chain in Japan as far as Muslim consumers are concerned. This iswhat the TOC would like to have, so that Muslim participants from across theworld competing in the Tokyo Olympics will have halal F&B throughout theirstay in Japan.

Promoting halal food and promotingMalaysian food, however, are two different things. Malaysian food suppliers atHalFest Tokyo seemed more focused on promoting their home-based F&B itemsthan getting involved in the Japanese F&B process and production.

They tend to think that because there isnow an interest in halal food in Japan, the demand for Malaysian food and foodproducts will automatically be created. This is a fallacy as the two are notrelated. The export of food products into Japan must also go through astringent process.

Nasi lemak

Muslims who come to Japan do not mindeating Japanese food as long as it is prepared in the halal way and has halalcertification. Local Japanese do not mind eating halal food, either. But theaverage Japanese or non-Malaysian Muslim in Japan would have issues over aplate of nasi lemak, due to reasons of food familiarity.

In the same way, many British Muslimtourists in Malaysia would prefer eggs with toast for breakfast instead of apacket of nasi lemak, no matter how delicious that packet is. The point is,they are not familiar with the dish, even if it is halal.

So to promote keropok lekor or kerepek ubior nasi lemak in its original form on the basis that it is halal, even when theJapanese are accommodating to halal products, is not yet sufficient. It is alsoa tall order for Malaysian entrepreneurs to meet.

But having said that, nasi lemak, ifpresented in the form of a halal Onigiri, could be a good option and would havea better chance of hitting the right note among hungry Muslims and non-Muslimsalike. Again, it is the process that matters.

The Japanese menu cannot be replaced withMalaysian cuisine, no matter how popular the dish is in Malaysia. Taste budscannot be captured or changed overnight. The key here is to make more and moreJapanese dishes halal as we operate in the Japanese market. In the same way,food producers in Malaysia make halal dim sum and fried kuey teow for the Muslimmarket here. They are still Chinese dishes, but the process is made halal.

This is a major misunderstanding that needsto be corrected if Malaysian companies want to penetrate the Japanese F&Bmarket.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2018/11/30/clearing-the-air-on-halal-food-in-japan/