Halal Supply Chain Management

Europe is a leading exporter of food products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to Muslim countries in Asia and the Middle East. Unlike Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand, the halal standards in European countries do not organise their safety standards. While Muslim countries are introducing new halal standards and strengthening their certification requirements, exporters in European countries are increasingly facing difficulties in complying with the new halal regulations. European governments have regarded these new regulations as barriers to their trade with Muslim countries. Does this reflect their lack of understanding of halal, or do they have a valid argument? For the full article, visit:  http://icrjournal.org/icr/index.php/icr/article/view/641

Integrity of halal products is becoming an increasing concern for governments and industries.  To better protect halal brands and corporate reputation, there are evident benefits of extending halal assurance towards the supply chain.  Three halal supply chain risk cycles are proposed: (1) risk prevention: risk vulnerability assessment, supply chain (re)design, vertical and horizontal collaboration, monitoring; (2) risk mitigation: investigative audits, cross-functional team, risk mitigation and communication plan, monitoring; and (3) risk recovery: risk recovery and communication plan, resume operations, maintain employee support, review risk mitigation and recovery plans. As halal is going through an evolution, towards a halal supply chain and value chain, halal-certified brands need better protection. It is the first study investigating halal risk and reputation management for halal-certified brands. For the full paper, visit:  https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/JIM

Halal supply chains have inherent problems or flaws, namely in traceability (ability to verify the location of a product) and in organising product recalls; transportation and warehousing (storage) compliance downstream the supply chain in accordance to halal requirements; end-to-end chain integrity (unbroken chain): from source to point of consumer purchase; different halal systems and interpretations of different markets; and lack of integration of information technology systems. Transparency of halal supply chains is needed in order to ensure trust and authenticity of a halal brand. Halal blockchains combine the distributed ledger technology with smart contracts, having the potential to create high performance halal supply chain networks.  The main objectives to be achieved with halal blockchains are reliable data and trust of halal supply chains; seamless and efficient halal process from source to point of consumer purchase; sustainability of halal supply chains; consumer conf