PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Imam Mansoor Rafiq Umar, President and CEO of Halal Watch World, on Halal Food Integrity in NYC Shelters
3:20:13
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125 sec
Imam Mansoor Rafiq Umar, President and CEO of Halal Watch World, testified about the importance of ensuring halal food integrity in NYC shelters. He highlighted his organization's expertise in halal certification and raised concerns about the current halal food practices in shelters.
- Emphasized Halal Watch World's role as the first and only Halal certification agency in the capital region and upstate New York
- Identified issues with current halal food practices in shelters, including mixing of halal and non-halal foods and self-certification
- Offered to work with the council to ensure proper oversight and integrity of halal food in shelters
Imam Mansoor Rafiq Umar
3:20:13
Perfect.
3:20:14
Dear respected members of the city council, my name is Imam Mansurafiq Umar.
3:20:18
I'm the president and CEO of Halal Watch World, 1st and only Halal certification agency based in the capital region and upstate New York.
3:20:25
As a leading certifier for nearly 4 decades, we've worked tirelessly to ensure Halal integrity, providing trusted oversight for Halal conscious consumers and organizations.
3:20:35
I've also served as the head chaplain of SUNY Albany.
3:20:38
And additionally, I was appointed by governor Hochul last year to the interfaith council as the only, Muslim imam.
3:20:46
We also, represent 43 schools throughout New York City, in oversight and ensuring that, products are halal and, those products are proper for the students to be consuming.
3:20:59
One of the biggest issues that was mentioned at the end of, of the the council members, speaking points, is that there is an issue with integrity from the Halal perspective.
3:21:13
So products that are going into the, the shelters, the question will always be had is, are these products actually Halal?
3:21:22
And that's one of the things that we do is we make sure that those products are Halal.
3:21:27
The products that are currently going into the shelters, there are a lot of questions around them.
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We've looked at the, documentation that's been submitted to the agriculture markets database, and there are issues with, the products where it states that they're mixing halal and non halal foods, that they are self certifying.
3:21:48
Those are the types of problems and issues that we want to ensure do not ever, occur for our, Muslim constituents and the hawaii conscious consumers.
3:21:59
Riseng Foods, Marlowe Bistro, those are the types of locations that are properly vetted.
3:22:05
We ensure that they properly follow the Islamic guidelines and standards, and, our goal is to ensure that there is integrity and oversight.
3:22:16
So we would love to work with the council in whatever
