The Muslim population in the United States notes a wider presence in the market each year. Over the past 30 years, many halal markets and ethnic shops have appeared, mostly in the main metropolitan areas. Most of the 6 to 8 million Muslims in North America observe halal laws, especially avoiding pork. (Regenstein, 2003). If earlier the food industry, for the most part, ignored this consumer group, now strict adherence to Islamic dietary standards has forced the markets of many countries to increase the share or even start producing halal products. It has been estimated that 75% of Muslims in the United States follow their religious dietary laws. This means that even after emigration, most Muslims still eat halal. The study of Bergeaud-Blackler and Bonne (2007) found that 84% of Muslims in France always eat halal.
Nowadays the global market for halal products is estimated at 1.5 billion consumers which means that one in four consumers worldwide buys halal products. (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004). However, before the situation was quite different. In the past, Muslims simply avoided foods that did not belong to halal criteria or replaced them with kosher food. Now, Muslims present themselves in society in different ways including a political way, requiring labeling of halal food. An example of such influence can be the opening in France in 2005 the first fast food restaurant “Burger King Muslim”, aimed at young Muslims who want halal semi-finished products. This place distinguishes itself from other ethnic halal restaurants by publicly confirming its Islamic identity, and thus it responds to the growth of strong Islamic attitudes among young Muslims.
Another important indicator of the impact of this social norm in society was the fact that more and more people, regardless of their religion, began to choose halal products. This finding can be due because halal products are of high quality and absolutely clean for the body. It is worth noting that halal products are chosen by people of other faiths — those who care about their health. Products manufactured in accordance with Islamic norms are in demand not only by the 1.4 billion Muslim population of the Earth. Non-Muslims seeking a healthy lifestyle are also willing to purchase these goods. The category of such people includes vegetarians, diabetics, sportsmen, etc. For, example, in the UK every year halal products are sold to 6 million people, although the number of Muslims is equal to two million. (Bonne and Verbeke, 2008)
The religion has a strong influence on eating habits even in a new cultural environment, as in the case of Muslim migrants, the number of which is increasing in Europe and in other countries. Such an effect of Islam greatly affects markets to meet specific religious needs and adapt the meat chain to Islamic conditions of halal meat production and retail. A comprehensive quality assurance system based on halal principles is needed, as well as institutionalized monitoring, control, and assurance of these principles, standards, and regulations, resulting in having “Halal” status. This status can finally be signaled to consumers via a specific label.
For this reason, the companies producing meat in European countries have been developed and observed a set of principles, standards, and rules that do not contradict Islamic dietary laws and are applied throughout the production and distribution process. However, not all these principles are observed in many modern halal meat chains in Europe. In Belgium, for example, most of the principles have not yet been formalized and are therefore not monitored. This situation reduces the trust of Muslim society to some companies that claim about halal production. However, trust is a fundamental ingredient for developing strong and long-term relationships between consumers and organizations. According to research by Nooteboom (1997) and Garbarino & Johnson (1999) trust would help reduce uncertainty and risk in transactions. The fast-growing global halal market and potential profit force many companies to falsely label their products as halal and mislead their consumers. Most of these companies did not fully comply with the halal guidelines. Based on their research, most Muslims in the UK do not trust large supermarkets when buying halal meat. They will only be sure that the meat is halal if the seller is a Muslim selling product in their local stores, and in fact, not many of the respondents are aware of the existence of supermarkets in their area that sold halal meat. In addition, the Muslim Council of the United Kingdom (ICB) warned that up to 90% of meat and poultry sold as Halal in the United Kingdom may have been sold illegally and not killed as required by the Muslim faith. (Bonne and Verbeke, 2008)