Korea is making moves to expand the nation's food export items to the global halal market following President Park Geun-hye's recent visit to the Middle East.
To help local food companies understand Muslim dietary laws... Korea has set up a new R&D agency devoted to the task.
Park Ji-won reports.
The world's Muslim faithfuls follow certain food restrictions.
For example they don't consume pork of any form,... alcohol,... and animals that are not properly slaughtered under Islamic law.
Permissible food is labeled 'halal'... as "halal" means "allowed" in Arabic.
And in an effort to expand the nation's food export items to the global halal market,... a new halal food agency began operations on Thursday under the Korea Food Research Institute.
The agency will focus on analyzing halal food standards in diverse Muslim countries like the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia,... and provide the nation's food manufacturers with guidelines on how to produce and develop halal-certified foods.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs says,... the establishment of the halal food agency is a follow-up measure of a recent MOU between Korea and the United Arab Emirates,... to promote cooperation in halal foods.
The agriculture ministry hopes the MOU and the newly-launched halal food agency could help domestic food exporters make easier inroads into the global food market by targeting some one-point-eight billion Muslims.
The worldwide halal food market is estimated to be around 20 percent of the global food market.
And since the late 2000s,... many domestic food manufacturers like Nongshim and Pulmuone,... have exported some of its food items, such as instant noodles and snacks,.. that earned halal-certifications.
Korea aims to double the nation's halal foods exports,... from some 680 million U.S. dollars last year to over one-point-two billion dollars by 2017.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
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