Al Islami Foods, a leading regional halal food producer, has launched a major initiative across the UAE, aiming to combat obesity and diabetes as part of its corporate social responsibility programme for the education sector.

The company’s “100 Schools Health Awareness Drive” will organise educational sessions for 100 schools across the UAE to educate students how to tackle these hazards through the power of knowledge about hygiene, quality and the real halal.

According to the WHO’s Global School Health Survey in 2005, over 12.1 per cent of UAE children are obese and over 20 per cent are at risk. Until now in 2009, the obese percentage has grown double.

The organisation also reported UAE amongst the most obese nations in the world and ranks 10th in the list of overweight countries. The situation is alarming.

“In today’s highly learned environment, students are the most valuable assets of society as they are custodians of future,” said Saleh Abdullah Lootah, the chief executive officer at Al Islami Foods.

“That is the reason we are focusing the education sector, which is the right platform to create public awareness,” he added.

Al Islami, with its real halal process, ensures the food developed at Al Islami is healthy, highly hygienic and of good quality. Besides dramatic growth of the halal food market, Al Islami stresses on to correctly define and educate the public about the ‘real halal’, on which the company is the among the pioneers in the world.

The essentials for being authentic halal are: animal raised on natural, healthy and halal feed, animals are physically fit, hand-slaughtered by a Muslim, no stunning of any kind, reciting Allahu Akbar (Allah is great) while slaughtering.

With the kick off awareness drive, the first batch of 36 students from Nibras International School Dubai along with teachers last week were invited to the main production unit of Al Islami in Jebel Ali.

The students went through an education session of the phases of food production, halal, hygiene and quality. – TradeArabia News Service