The Food & Consumer Products division of Exova, the worldwide food and advisory business, is now offering audits to a new Halal standard which can be easily linked to a BRC audit, making it ideal for food manufacturers who wish to offer Halal approved finished products.

Exova is working in partnership with the Universal Halal Agency, a new company headed up by respected Halal accreditation expert, Nizar Boga, who has devised the new standard, which complies with the strict religious requirements of Halal but is available in an easy to use, modular format. This means that manufacturers can tailor the standard to their own requirements and bolt it on to other audits being carried out by Exova such as the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety for example.

There are presently more than 3 million Muslims in the UK, with 95% claiming to be Halal and the market is increasing. Many high street retailers are responding to consumer demand for Halal and other specialist certificated finished products to appeal to their diverse customer base. Already well respected for carrying out food audits, Exova’s Halal auditing scheme is designed specifically for manufacturers whose core product is not Halal approved but would like to be able to demonstrate that their products are Halal approved.