Mention halal food and immediately many people think of meat, but the term applies to all foods that the Muslim world prepares to eat, including fruit and vegetables. And, according to experts, it’s an area of the processed market that is not being fully catered for

There is a great deal of ignorance surrounding halal food, with many non-Muslims associating the term solely with the process by which animals are slaughtered for the Islamic meat trade.

However, halal covers all the foods that Muslims are permitted to eat as opposed to haram, foods that are not allowed, the most common one being pork.

Although fresh fruit and vegetables are automatically halal, it’s the processing that could render them haram, and therefore producers are encouraged to go through a certification system to ensure they can be correctly sold to the Muslim consumer.

In a 2013 report into the Islamic market it was stated that globally Muslim consumer expenditure is expected to grow to a £1.6 trillion market by 2018.

Omega 3 from algae versus fish

• Heavy metals, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other nasty stuff has been found at dangerous levels in fish oil. Unfortunately, lots of pollution in the ocean sometimes leaves the fish with harmful levels of poisonous compounds; levels of sea mercury have increased by 30% over the last 30 years alone. This mercury is almost impossible to remove from the fish when extracting the fish oil. Whether you’re pregnant or you are just careful about what you eat, algae is the cleanest source of Omega 3 available.
• Fish are a finite resource. Around 85% of global fish stocks are being over exploited. The growth of the Omega 3 market worldwide is a direct contributor to both illegal fishing and overfishing. As with all ecological food chains, a lot of damage can be done to all species by removing large numbers of one species. Our algae is grown in a controlled environment in a sustainable way. It’s therefore environmentally sustainable.

Omega 3 from algae versus fish

• It’s vegan and vegetarian-friendly. It also contains docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is only present in marine-based life forms. As a vegetarian, you may be getting a lot of alpha-Linolenic acid (ALA), which is great for hair and nails – but lacking in DHA, which is for mood, brain, eye and heart health.