International Symposium on Food Halalness in and around South-East Asia

A keynote speech by Dr. Arata Mariko

The hall filled with participants

A lecture by Dr. Russly Abdul Rahman from Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia

Tokyo Institute of Technology's "Gurunavi" Endowed Chair in Future Food held the 1st international symposium on food halalness titled "Food Halalness in and around South-East Asia" at Kuramae Hall, Tokyo, on May 8 2013, co-hosted by JSPS Asia and Africa Science Platform Program, OIAS and OAS, Waseda University.

The purpose of this symposium was to give an overview of recent issues on food halalness especially in and around South-East Asian countries which now lead halal food production in the world. The lectures included various aspects such as modern consumers' consciousness and consumption behavior, halal in free trade regimes, halal certification systems, up-to-date technology to detect non-halal materials used in processed foods, the use of information technology, etc.

After the keynote speech by Dr. Mariko Arata of Tokyo Institute of Technology, eight lectures were delivered by eight remarkable researchers from institutes in Japan and South-East Asian countries.

Speakers in the first session titled 'Food Habits and Halal Certification Systems' were Prof. Ryoichi Namikawa (Chukyo University), Ir. Lukmanul Hakim (Executive Director, LPPOM MUI, Indonesia), Mr. Aruma Kawabata (Researcher, Japan Halal Asssociation), and Dr. Yukari Sai, (Research Associate, Waseda University).

In the second session titled 'Food Halalness and Technology', lectures were given by Dr. Muhammad Yanis Musdja (Islamic State University, Jakarta, Indonesia), Dr. Abdelfatteh El Omri, (Researcher, IATS, Japan), Prof. Russly Abdul Rahman (Director, Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia), and Prof. Winai Dahlan (Founder Director, The Halal Science Center, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand).

The symposium gathered more than 270 participants. Activities that followed, held on May 9, were also well attended, including an open seminar on the Indonesian halal certification system and a workshop on halal/haram detection/analysis technology. All the events received high acclaim from both speakers and audience as being very informative and productive.

For details of the symposium, please visit the following website.
http://www.mot.titech.ac.jp/food/event_20130508.html