Paris: A French company has developed a new kit which went on sale in the country 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.
Priced at €6,90 each or €125 for a packet of 25, a device, simply called "HalalTest", is designed for use by Muslims who, under the dietary requirements of their religion are forbidden from consuming pork and alcohol, Le Nouvel Observateur reported.
In a similar style to a pregnancy test, the device consists of a strip which the consumer must put into a glass of warm water containing a sample of food. After a few minutes, the test will then show one of two options: either a single bar for a negative test or two bars for a positive one, which means there is alcohol or pork present.
"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," the Algerian born 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.
"Products bearing the 'halal' stamp have emerged over the past 15 years…but consumer vigilance has increased recently," Choui explained.
Additionally, at the beginning of 2011, sausages labeled as Halal by company Knacki Herta had to be withdrawn from supermarkets after tests demonstrated the presence of pork.
Also a test to detect allergens in food is coming "in a few weeks."
"In a few weeks we will launch another range of products under the brand Confirm Food, for early detection of traces of allergens," Chaoui also told BFMTV.com.
Although Halal is a term normally applied to raw meat products, it can also refer to cooked meals, drinks, sweets and even cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.
Food falsely labelled as Halal has been at the centre of some scandals in France in recent years.
In January 2011 poultry sausages labelled as Halal from the company Knacki Herta were removed from supermarket shelves after tests revealed the presence of pork.
In deed the issue of Halal food has long been a contentious issue in France, with far right politicians repeatedly calling for public canteens not to serve Halal food and some conservative figures following suit.
Before the 2012 presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy, under pressure not to lose voters to the far-right National Front party jumped on the issue of Halal, saying that there should not be "alternative" meat options in school canteens.
In March 2013, The Local reported how Jewish and Muslim parents in the south-western town of Arveyres were outraged when their children's school announced that the canteen would no longer be serving a substitute for pork.
More recently in July this year, a controversial ruling that ordered a French prison to serve up halal meals to inmates was overturned by a court in Lyon.
France's Muslim population reached an estimated 6.5 million in 2013 and there is likely a big market for such a product, especially in the wake of Europe-wide horsemeat scandals.
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