A Growing Food Trend.

A Villa Madina outlet has been added the food court at the Centre at Circle and 8th.  Like a lot of recent businesses it uses electronic signage instead of old fashioned printed signs.  One of the pieces of information on its video loop is that the meat at Villa Madina is certified halal.

Saskatoon's Muslim population has increased considerably in recent years.  Along with that increase has been increased visibility of halal food products.  You can find them both in stores catering to local Muslims, and in places like Real Canadian Superstore.  So a restaurant that advertises the halal status of its food is no surprise.  On the other hand I'm sure it's a pleasant surprise for those looking for more halal eating options.

I don't expect we'll see halal meat in a lot of the older fast food places.  It probably wouldn't be worth the bother given that other menu items won't be halal, like anything that includes pork products.  And of course Muslims will vary in their willingness to accept non-halal food products.  For some it will be a very important issue, for others it will be quite far down the list of what they worry about.

Incidentally I went up to the mall to visit Co Op to pick up some frozen hamburgers.  The hamburgers in question have no indication of halal certification on the box.  Not that I was looking for such certification when I bought them, not being a Muslim.