Shortly before Ramadan this year, I noticed that Harbio brand gummy candies were on a retail shelf for sale. This particular brand is typically found at generic gas stations and area grocery stores throughout the metro. It is typically sold as a generic/standard confectionary product. No references are made to halal or kosher dietary restrictions anywhere on the outside package. One of the main ingredients for this product is gelatin. For an establishment that caters exclusively to a halal food market, the actual presence of the Harbio brand is alarming. When gelatin is listed as an ingredient without explicit references to halal or kosher dietary restrictions, it is therefore conclusively derived from pork or some related mixture.
The vast majority of consumers at Jerusalem Market are Muslims which explains why the establishment specializes in the sale and distribution of halal foods. Muslim consumers trust the ownership to perform proper due diligence to ensure that products such as Harbio are not on the shelves and are indeed Halal. Say for example if a child notices a package of Harbio gummy candies and takes it to their parent/guardian for purchase, there is great potential the product will be consumed without verifying the ingredients.
When I brought this matter to the attention of a supervisor, I was informed the product in question is grouped together in a larger reoccurring shipment from a Turkish supplier based in Germany. The fact of the matter is that just because a Turkish wholesale distributor sends shipments of halal majority product is also in no way a guaranteed indication that each individual product will be exclusively halal.
The people managing Jerusalem Market must perform a better job at halal due diligence when screening out pork based products from their store inventory provided if this issue has not already...
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