It was local Thai Muslims who first began asking for the country’s halal testing centre, a business that scours products for any banned substances and has since boomed.
“Fifteen years ago there was only 500 food plants that had halal certification. Now it’s 6000,” Winai told AFP as female lab technicians in headscarves tested food products for traces of pork DNA.
Over the same period the number of halal certified products made in Thailand has gone from 10,000 to 160,000, he added.
It’s paid off. The government estimates the halal food industry is already worth $6 billion a year.
As Thailand has quickly learned, there’s gold at the end of the halal rainbow.
