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As was informed earlier, the expert commission of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine “Ammah” visited confectionary company “ABK” on June, 23, to inspect the products and production conditions for meeting halal standards.

 

“ABK” company is a largest Ukrainian producer of confectionary. 

It incorporates 4 confectionary factories located in the cities of Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk and Mukachevo. 

Its product portfolio includes sweets for various occasions: for present making, for family party or individual consumption. Good taste qualities, original package design and extremely strict quality control at each production phase allow “ABK” to export its products to more than 20 countries.

The commission made the follow up visit to the factory located in Donetsk at early September, and the producer took the decision to enlarge the nomenclature of products made according to Shariah requirements up to 120 brands. The test was successfully passed by 67 brands of bonbons, 3 brands of syrup-filled bonbons and chocolate, 12 brands of jelly sweets and pastilas, 20 brands of biscuits, roll crackers, airy sweets and wafers. Documentation and certification is being under way now.    

All the products of “ABK” company are made by the same recipes irrespective of factory location, including ones that have passed certification according to halal standards. Occurrences of inclusion of alcohol or gelatin in a sweet product where these components must not occur are impossible. Therefore, Ukrainian Muslims should not care about this, and they can buy their favorite sweets when staying in any Ukrainian city.  

Company administration is intending to put the “halal” mark in front of relevant assortment items at their official web-site; yet, the question of whether or not these marks will be envisaged in package design of “ABK” products is still open now.

Such a certification procedure has been undertaken by “ABK” company for its expected expansion of exports to Muslim countries. 

As explained by company staff, the need for new market penetration occurs as products of Ukrainian confectionary companies stand out for high quality given moderate prices. In fact, “price-quality” balance is a visiting card of Ukrainian confectionary makers. It has been highly appreciated in Iraq, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, which have been stable buyers of “ABK” products. Once the “halal” certificate is issued, expectations of importing company-made bonbons, biscuits and wafers are held by Jordan, Kuwait, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  

The news about issuing the “halal” certificate for part of the output of a largest confectionery company of Ukraine is even more important and relevant for Ukrainian Muslims. The problem lies in total absence of information in Ukraine about brands not containing fats, alcohol additions, gelatin and other components prohibited by Islam, and about their makers. While it was long ago that Muslim countries fixed the range of permitted confectionary ingredients and methods for sweet products making, the ultimate information vacuum about this still exists in Ukraine. This is also paradoxical because Ukraine has exported confectionery to Muslim countries for years, as said by “ABK” technologists and managers.

Mrs. Oksana Starostina, company manager on markets of Arab and Muslim countries, says: “Our products have been exported since long to Middle East Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan etc.) where Muslims constitute a larger part of the population, as well as to the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Palestine. Negotiations are being on with Kuwait, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iran”.

“Virtually all these countries demand “halal” certificate in the export documentation package. When Ukrainian or Russian food companies cannot submit such certificate, importers from Muslims countries inquire detailed information about ingredients of a product, and ask a producer to give, when possible, the information on whether or not the “halal” certificate is available with a supplier of ingredients (of which a product is made).

Once an inquiry comes, our technologists prepare for us detailed information on the product. A basic requirement is, indeed, absence of alcohol, animal fats or gelatin in the product. 

A larger part of “ABK” brands meet the above requirements, and we do not offer Muslim markets the products that may contain ingredients prohibited for Muslims”.

According to Mrs. Oksana Starostina, controlling offices from Muslim countries have already inspected the company products to the effect of meeting international quality standards, but international standards do not account for the Islamic canons of the permissible and the prohibited in foods. Company management has, therefore, inquired the Information and Analytical Center of “Alraid”, to have a conclusion of Islamic experts from Ukraine on what products meet the Islamic norms. 

“A larger part of jelly bonbons made by “ABK” do not contain gelatin, and jelling components used there are pectin (citrus or apple) or carraginan; animal fats never occur in “ABK” bonbons. 

Also, any country buying our confectionary would require the Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion Certificate, which is issued by “ABK” in Ukrainian and with English translation. These seem to be main requirements of our importers from Muslim countries.  

We are expecting to show our products at the International Exhibition of Confectionary Goods in November 2012, in the United Arab Emirates. A larger part of its visitors are supposedly companies from Middle East countries. We hope representatives of Muslim countries will like our sweets, and geographic coverage of “ABK” exports will spread on these regions”.

It should be stressed that not all the “ABK” bonbons meet the “halal” standard (although their larger part does). Muslims should, therefore, remember which of them are qualified as halal. “ABK” company is planning to put “halal” mark on all the certified products in the section “Products” displayed on the Ukrainian language page of its web-side, for purposes of Ukrainian Muslims.

Mr.Said Ismaguilov, Mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine “Ummah”, comments the situation in the following way: “it is sad that Ukrainian Muslims have not raised the issue about permissibility of confectionary products for so many years, given that nearly everyone includes confectionary in his/her diet or in the diet of his/her children. The only excuse for us may be novelty of the certification procedure for halal in Ukraine, which demand appeared with the renaissance of Islam and Islamic cultural identity in our country. While in the past checks for meeting the “halal” standard were important for meat, sausage or tinned products, now they are important for confectionery products as well”.

reporter.