Blockchain adds halal food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to its treasury

the global halal economy is expanding their range to other sectors and today includes not only food: pharmaceuticals, health products, cosmetics, media and recreation, fashion, traveling medical devices, logistics marketing, print and electronic media, packaging, branding, and financing. The Thomson Reuters´ Global Islamic Economy Report 2016-17 estimated the global halal economy is to be worth of $3.9 trillion, growing at an estimated annual rate of 20%, so the bait is there for companies to lure new customers with a halal badge

Published on Arabian Blue Ocean, June 25, 2018

With the sunny summer ready to kick off on July 1, the holidays bring new landscapes, cultures, and new food to get discovered. In many cases, food becomes a pleasure, sometimes a yummy obsession, or a problem if Muslim eaters cannot verify if what is on their food is halal acceptable. But not only food is halal. The world population of Muslims is 1.8 billion people –one of the fastest growing consumers segments in the world–, and in order to please the new demand triggered by a new moving lifestyle, the global halal economy is expanding their range to other sectors and today includes not only food: pharmaceuticals, health products, cosmetics, media and recreation, fashion, traveling medical devices, logistics marketing, print and electronic media, packaging, branding, and financing. The Thomson Reuters´ Global Islamic Economy Report 2016-17 estimated the global halal economy is to be worth of $3.9 trillion, growing at an estimated annual rate of 20%, so the bait is there for companies to lure new customers with a halal badge.

The problem is how to track and verify that sources are really 100 per cent halal and not using the term as a simple buzz attraction. Could it be that blockchain is the solution to that? Yes.

Halal Chain is a blockchain platform that traces halal industry products and solves Halal compliance global challenges, such as the lack of a globally recognized Halal certification system, inaccurate and unauthentic data on Halal products, poor regulation of raw materials for Halal products, and the difficulty of managing a centralized regulatory system for Halal food. The company, that presented its project in Dubai last May, resolves these issues by offering a public permanent ledger for Halal related transactions across the value chain.

It works as any other public blockchain, by time-stamping operations: it serves as an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently, in a verifiable and permanent method. HalalChain tracks and verifies through all the stages of the supply chain of Halal food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Instant e-payment, e-commerce and other industry applications powered by blockchain and Internet of things are some of the added solutions.

“HalalChain is a comprehensive ecosystem where the Islamic economy and the digital economy complement each other. However, the use of HalalChain is not only limited to the Halal industry, it can be used to bring transparency to food label claims such as organic, non-GMO, and gluten-free,” said Abdullah Han, Co-Founder and Managing Director of HLC.

“The launch of HalalChain is in line with Dubai’s vision related to the Islamic Economy and Blockchain technology. We are honored to be among the first to launch Blockchain technology in Dubai,” said Dr. Sulaiman Liu, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, during the signature of three MOUs between HalalChain and Halal Asia, My Outlets, and Perwiratama Group.