A French 'Halal test' to check for pork

Rasa - A new kit has gone on sale in France to detect the presence of pork or alcohol in various produce. The ‘Halal Test’ is aimed at the Islamic market and claims rapidly to detect the presence of pork in any meal.

News ID: 1456

Date: 22 October 2014 - 14:21

RNA - The demonstration video directs that a piece of meat - for example, a sausage - is placed in a small flask and a few drops of hot water added.

“The appearance of two red lines means that we have pork present,” says Abderrahmane Chaoui, one of the product’s creators, as he conducts a video demonstration, displaying the finished test.

This means that the product has pork cannot be consumed by Muslims as pork consumption is outlawed by the Koran, whereas one bar means that pork is not present and meets Islamic consumption standards.

The product is the brainchild of Chaoui, 25, and his classmate, 27-year-old and Jean-François Julien.

The ‘Halaltest’ can be used not only with meals but also with beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

“Pork is the subject of a strict ban, as well as alcohol,” Chaoui stated, according to Le Nouvel Observateur.

It can be ordered individually for €6.90 (US$8.80) per packet or a pack of 25 tests, for €125.

Eventually, the company – despite being in its germinating stages – hopes to modify the test so that it is possible to recognize whether the animal from which the meat was obtained was slaughtered according to Islamic ritual, “based on blood oxygenation.”

This means that the test would truly become a test to see whether all meat was halal, rather than just directly outlawed.

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