Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
Are “Muslim Meals” on Planes Halal? (Part 1)
2025-05-15
When airlines offer meal options, do you hesitate to check the "Muslim meal" box? Have you ever considered the inconsistency of offering kosher meals to followers of Judaism, but no clearly defined "halal" option for Muslims?
Airlines mainly offer three types of meals on board: Muslim meals (MOML), Kosher meals (KSML) and Hindu meals (HNML).
MOML refers to halal meals, KSML refers to meals that comply with Jewish law, and HNML is vegetarian meals suitable for India.
Halal meal issues
The halal industry has been concerned about this issue for years. As Mohamed Jinna, CEO of Halal India, wrote in his 2011 open letter to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), “Today, there are many airline catering providers who claim and label their meals as ‘MOML’ without proper halal certification processes being tracked, and who are then claiming that these meals are suitable for Muslim passengers.”
“Muslim Meal (MOML)” is wrong and discriminatory, implying that it is only for Muslims, but when it is halal food – it is not only for Muslim consumers.
Furthermore, the code "MOML" currently mandated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is what many people assume stands for halal-certified food, but it does not necessarily mean any type of certification.
But is it halal certified?
Finnair, for example, describes its Muslim meals this way: "Food is selected, prepared, and served in accordance with Islamic dietary laws and customs. It does not contain pork or pork by-products, gelatin, alcohol, spice extracts containing alcohol, or fish from scaleless or finless species that is not white meat."
However, many Muslims eat salmon and shrimp, and Finnair's customer operator did not confirm to us whether they have halal-certified meals. In fact, it only explained that their meal suppliers vary depending on the location.
British Airways' website states: "Contains no pork, pork by-products or alcoholic beverages. All meat comes from animals slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law. May not be served on some European flights."
But the question is, is the slaughtering process certified by a trusted official body? An email sent to British Airways seeking more information was not immediately replied.
Even Garuda Indonesia, which won the title of the world's best airline for halal travelers at the 2016 World Halal Travel Awards with 1.9 million votes from 116 countries, does not provide detailed information about its meals on its website.
However, Garuda Indonesia's global customer service center responded to our inquiry by stating: "...we confirm that our meals are halal certified and Muslim meals are permitted on Garuda Indonesia international flights."
In another Muslim-majority country, Turkish Airlines also doesn't have a special category for Muslim meals, but the airline's sidebar states: "All meals served on Turkish Airlines flights are halal and prepared according to halal dietary requirements."
Likewise, Emirates Airlines says: "All meals on Emirates are suitable for Muslims and prepared in accordance with Halal requirements... They do not contain pork, alcohol or any non-halal ingredients."
Interestingly, while Malaysia Airlines states on its website that it only serves halal food on board its flights and that its food is prepared "according to halal rituals and methods," it is more explicit about kosher: "Our kosher meals are guaranteed to comply with Jewish law and are prepared and packaged by certified kosher producers."
Given all these different airlines, how can consumers know if a company's definition of halal is sufficiently consistent with officially certified and industry-recognized halal standards? Logically, a uniform standard should be used.