THAI Airways International’s halal kitchen is now serving up to 6,000 meals a day for 11 national airlines of Islamic majority countries.
These include Kuwait, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Ubekistan, Turkey and Iran. In addition, Thai Airways also services countries with large Muslim populations including UAE, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Oman, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam and many destinations in India, all of which have halal food as a choice.
Demand from Muslim travellers had been growing steadily over the years until it became necessary to set up a halal kitchen as a completely separate unit from the regular kitchen, according to Pismai Chandrubeksa, managing director of Thai Catering Services. She said that meeting the special dietary requirements of its passengers was a very important part of the airline’s customer service.
“Over the year more customers have become aware of our specific ‘halal meal’ as opposed to the generically termed ‘Muslim meal’. This awareness has led to the increase in demand. Having certified halal meals available makes customers more confident in their choice of airline.”
In February this year Thai Airways signed a MoU with the Islamic Committee of Samut Prakarn Province to receive permission to use the halal logo by the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand. This means the airline’s ‘halal kitchen’ is fully certified and conforms to the permissible dietary requirements under Islamic law.
Halal food has to meet its regulatory standards at every step from purchasing to production and preparation, and the special kitchen set up by Thai Catering Services operates as an entirely separate unit from the regular catering facility at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The regular catering facility prepares a staggering 60,000 meals per day with the capacity to produce 87,000 a day.
The halal kitchen is found within a state-of-the-art modern purpose built building taking up 90,000 sq m near Bangkok’s airport. Although the facility is presently available for flights operating out of Suvarnabhumi Airport, there are plans in future to extend the catering services to Don Mueang Airport to serve passengers travelling on domestic flights. The under utilised airport is only open to domestic, cargo and charter flights having shut down in September 2006 after Suvarnabhumi International Airport came into operation. The halal kitchen received the Halal Food Certificate from the Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand (Halal Thai) in January this year. At its separate facility training is provided for non Muslim staff for the proper monitoring and preparation of halal food during the workday.
Every step in the preparation of a halal meal is adhered to, with constant inspections being carried out by Thai Catering Services management. Every production step has to follow halal regulations rigidly including the mixture of ingredients, spices and seasoning which must be certified; the area must be clean, safe, and non-contaminated; equipment used must be clean and follow halal requirements; storage and transportation must be separated from the general section and washing procedures must be in accordance with Islamic law.
by Cheryl Mandy