Islam cared about human nutrition as much as caring about upbringing the Muslim spiritually and morally .This includes taking care of the human body’s health so that the person will be able to contribute positively to this life. The Holy Quran and Sunna are full of dos and don’ts pertaining to protection of the human body against the various diseases. Whereas the instructions of the Holy Quran and Sunna are considered the foundation of the Islamic Legislation, therefore the Muslim must follow them. We mention, in particular, the instructions of the Holy Quran and the prophetic Sunna regarding eating permissible food and avoiding forbidden food. That is why Muslims are always keen on searching for permissible food, especially that most of the Islamic countries partially import food from abroad and sometimes the exporting country is Non-Islamic one, a matter that acquires ensuring that the imported food is consistent with the Islamic Legislation.

The regulators in the Islamic countries, therefore, is responsible for setting sufficient rules, regulations and requirements that ensure the consistency of the exported food with the Islamic Legislation. Of these requirement is enclosing a “Halal” certificate especially to types of food like meat or that have meat or animal products among their ingredients to guarantee that the exported food meets the legislative requirements. Such requirements may hinder food trade especially if these rules varied from one country to another due the emergence of new technologies (such as slaughtering methods and applying biotechnology in producing and manufacturing food) beside the need to abide by the agreements of World Trade Organization concerning sanitary and phytosanitary and the technical barriers to trade as well.

In fact, all these factors reveal the need to hold an international conference that gathers all the concerned parties from the regulating and legislative authorities in different countries of the world and in Islamic countries in particular, and the relevant international organizations and civil authorities to discuss this vital topic and reach some recommendations that contribute to enhancing the trade among the countries and unify the requirements of permissible food and the methods of supervising them since this specialized conference is to be held for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia out of its religious responsibility to support the leading role that the government of the Custodian of the Holy Mosques plays in serving Islam and Muslims all over the globe.

Main Objectives

- Clarify the concept of Halal Food and its requirements from an Islamic perspective.
- Present technical and economic aspects of Halal Food in light of the increased demand on such food at global level.
- Boost public-private cooperation and coordination in relation to Halal Food control at regional and international levels and exchange information and expertise.
- Exchange of experience between countries in the field of supervision and control on Halal Food.
- Present up-to-date scientific technologies used to detect and analyze forbidden contaminants and residues in foods labeled "Halal".

Main Topics

- Halal Food in light of the teachings of Qur'an and Sunna.
- The economic and strategic dimension of Halal Food trade at the global level.
- Recommendation and regulations of Halal certification.
- Control and supervision of Halal Food at all stages of food chain.
- Experiences of some Islamic countries in the area of Halal Food Control.
- Detection methods for forbidden substances of Halal Food.
- Stunning and automated mechanical slaughter.
- Lawfulness of food additives.
- Lawfulness of food produced by Nanotechnology and GM.
- The efforts of countries, organizations and institutions to develop and support the production of Halal Foods.

Suggested Participants

- Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
- Ministry of Interior.
- Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da’wah and Guidance.
- Ministry of Trade and Industry.
- Ministry of Higher Education.
- Ministry of Agriculture.
- Ministry of Finance (Customs Department).
- Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization.
- Council of Saudi Chambers.
- Muslim World League.
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
- Islamic Development Bank.
- Relevant bodies and institutions in the Gulf.
- Local companies and institutions involved in the production and trade of halal food.
- Institutions approved by Muslim World League to supervise halal slaughter in countries that export meat to the Kingdom.
- Private companies from around the world involved in the production and manufacturing of halal food.
- Some Islamic institutions and organizations concerned with halal food.
- Scientific and research institutions.