Mars Bars: Halal or Haram?

Mars bars get veggie status back

Sunday, 20 May 2007

Mars has abandoned plans to use animal products in its chocolate, and has apologised to "upset" vegetarians.
The firm had said it would change the whey used in some of its products from a vegetarian source to one with traces of the animal enzyme, rennet.

The Vegetarian Society organised a campaign against the move, asking members to voice their concerns to parent company Masterfoods.

Mars said it became "very clear, very quickly" that it had made a mistake.

In just one week, more than 6,000 people bombarded the company, which produces the Mars, Snickers, Maltesers and Galaxy brands, with phone and e-mail complaints.

Forty MPs also signed a petition to voice their opposition.

Fiona Dawson, managing director of Mars UK, said the company had listened to customers and decided to reverse its decision.

"The consumer is our boss and we had lots of feedback from consumers who were unhappy about the change," Ms Dawson said.
"It became very clear, very quickly that we had made a mistake, for which I am sorry.

"There are three million vegetarians in the UK and not only did we disappoint them, but we upset a lot of the consumers."

'Principled decision'

The Vegetarian Society had called the move by Mars "incomprehensible" and "a backward step" at a time when consumers were increasingly concerned about "the provenance of their food".

Mars replied that, by admitting its products were no longer suitable for "extremely strict vegetarians", it was making a "principled decision".

Now it insists it will begin changing its recipes back immediately.

Dr Annette Pinner, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said she was pleased Mars had been "honest enough" to admit it had "made a mistake".

"A Masterfoods representative has made contact with us and we are very pleased that they now recognise the importance of integrity to all their customers, especially vegetarians," she added.

Rennet is extracted from calves' stomachs and was to have been used in the ice cream versions of all Masterfoods' bars too.

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Mars starts using animal products

Monday, 14 May 2007

Some of the UK's best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will no longer be suitable for vegetarians.
Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.

Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a "principled decision" on its part.

The Vegetarian Society said the company's move was "incomprehensible".

'Extremely disappointed'

Masterfoods said it had started using rennet from 1 May and non-affected products had a "best before date" up to 1 October.

Rennet, a chemical sourced from calves' stomachs, is used in the production of whey.

It will now also be found in Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way products, and the ice cream versions of all Masterfoods' bars.

"If the customer is an extremely strict vegetarian, then we are sorry the products are no longer suitable, but a less strict vegetarian should enjoy our chocolate," said Paul Goalby, corporate affairs manager for Masterfoods.

The Vegetarian Society said it was "extremely disappointed".

"At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods' decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step," it said in a statement.

"Mars products are very popular with young people and many will be shocked to discover that their manufacture now relies on the extraction of rennet from the stomach lining of young calves," it added.

Halal Food Market

Malaysia plays host to Global Halal Forum

By Neil Merrett

08/05/2007- The World Halal Forum kicked off in Malaysia this week, as the country moves to become a global leader in production and distribution of the strictly defined certification.

Speaking during the event's opening yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stressed the country's desire to further develop halal techniques not just domestically, but globally as well.

"The WHF together with its partner event the Malaysian International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) have been included in Malaysia's 15 Year Industrial Master Plan as annual events to boost the development of the halal sector," he said during his keynote speech.

The forum comes as a further sign of the opportunities, particularly in the food industry, for the country's halal processors and producers. An increasing number of companies are producing halal goods to tap into the billion dollar global demand.

Halal is an Islamic term for permissible, which in food terms constitutes an approved slaughter and preparation for products such as meat, in a similar vein to kosher products.

During the two day event, 900 representatives from over 30 countries, ranging from key industry players to raw material suppliers will meet to discuss the biggest issues facing the industry, like the implementation of international standards.

Badawi also used the forum to announce the formation of the International Halal Integrity (IHI) Alliance, a non-profit, non-government organization designed to represent views of everyone involved in the industry.

The event is also expected to set the agenda for the halal industry over the coming year with a number of memorandums of understandings to be signed to further develop production techniques and certification.

These include developing an information and communication technology with Microsoft, as well as financial services, and human resource development with Thailand's Chulalongkorn University.

With more than 1.8bn Muslims globally, the total size of global halal food and non-food (such as financial services, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics) industries is estimated at RM7.98 trillion (€1.5 trillion) with an expected growth rate of 10-20 per cent each year.

Though the global market for halal food has never been measured, industry estimates of its value range from $150bn (€110bn) to $500bn (€368bn).

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Halal or Haram: Tough Choices

Would you give a ride for someone with alcohol? What if your decision will make you lose your job?

Muslim cab drivers refused to carry alcohol

Related Post

Tags: livinghalal, halal life, lifestyle, career, job, haram, carring alcohol, khamr, wine, beer, Islam, practice, rewards, loss.

Quran on PlayStation

If you already got addicted to PSP then maybe you should try this.

KUALA LUMPUR: Muslims can read the Quran on their Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) now, thanks to the work of several Multimedia University (MMU) students.

The Quran software for PSP makes it easier for Muslims to read and understand the holy book with the help of illustrations and English translations, the students said.

This was the brainchild of Ikhwan Nazri, a final-year student of digital media at the university.

The 21-year-old and a team of six animators and graphics designers worked on the software for about four months.

“We worked on the project on and off, between our studies,” he said, adding that the product was built using Macromedia Flash.

Ikhwan said he chose to design the software specifically for the PSP, a portable games device, because he felt that it could be more than just an entertainment machine.

He is distributing the Quran software for free via http://raise.flavert.com after May 19.

Prior to that, those who are interested can send e-mail to ikhwan.nazri@flavert.com to request a copy.

Source: Students design Quran software

WhyIslam At LA Times Book Festival 2007

Tags: WhyIslam, Islam, Dawah, Muslim, LA Times Book Festival UCLA 2007, interview, event, livinghalal, free quran, Tahweeh, participate, give dawah, support, help, make dua, may Allah reward you, Jesus peace be upon him

The Role of a Mother

Do you know why it takes a village to raise a child?

The obvious answer is because raising a child involves lots of efforts, and that the village/society has great impacts on children.

But, there is another reason that parents tend to ignore. It takes a village to raise a child, because often parents outsource parenting to the village, from school, street, TV, ...

The better model of parenting is as the poet Hafiz Ibrahim said:
The mother is a school. All you have to do is to well-prepare a mother, then you will have a well-prepared noble nation.

What do you think? Is it better for a mother to work as anything but a mother, or to fullfill her role as a mother first?

See below, an estimated dollar value for motherhood. Obvioiusly, it's a rough estimation. Otherwise, it's hard to quantify any hidden emotional benefits, and the quality of service (e.g. a day care compared to a mother).

Salary.com Caculator

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.

This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.

The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.

A mother who holds full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85,939 for the work she does at home, Salary.com.

Last year she would have earned $85,876 for her at-home work, it said.

Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home.

Source: Yahoo! News


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