Eleven years ago, the recipe for the McCain Deep鈥檔 Delicious cake 鈥� a decades-old Canadian classic 鈥� changed.

To many Canadians, the removal of beef gelatin from the cake鈥檚 components may have gone unnoticed. But for Muslim shoppers used to checking the ingredients of food products, it was cause for celebration.

鈥淚t went kind of viral within the Muslim community, like, 鈥極h my God, we can eat this,鈥欌�� said Salima Jivraj, account director and multicultural lead at Nourish Food Marketing.

It鈥檚 easier than ever to find halal meat, snacks and desserts in grocery stores as the industry expands in response to Canada鈥檚 growing Muslim population, and Jivraj said she doesn鈥檛 expect that growth to slow anytime soon.

鈥淭he demand just keeps growing. So it鈥檚 a really good business to be in,鈥� she said.

Nearly five per cent of Canadians are Muslim, according to the 2021 census, a proportion that has more than doubled since 2001, with immigration as a key driver.

Almost 19 per cent of immigrants admitted between 2011 and 2021 were Muslim, Statistics Canada data show.

鈥淏ecause the demand is there, the industry is paying more attention, and as a result there鈥檚 more products hitting the shelves,鈥� said Omar Subedar, an imam as well as COO and co-founder of the Halal Monitoring Authority (HMA).

For meat to be halal, the animal needs to be slaughtered in a certain way and blessed at the time of slaughter, he explained. Muslims don鈥檛 eat certain kinds of meat, most notably pork, and the treatment of the animal from the beginning of its life is also important, he said.

It鈥檚 not only about meat, however. Many common grocery items include animal byproducts such as gelatin (in marshmallows, for example) or rennet (found in many cheeses), said Jivraj. But these items are also increasingly available halal, she added.

Halal consumer packaged goods or other food products also need to be free of alcohol.

The HMA launched in 2006 to address malpractice and fraud in the halal food industry, said Subedar. It certifies halal-labelled products and monitors the practices of the companies it certifies.

Mississauga, Ont.-based Maple Leaf Foods, which produces a variety of meat and other protein products, has seen rising demand for its halal offerings in recent years. The company鈥檚 halal brand, Mina, was launched in 2013 and is certified by the HMA.

鈥淲e expect strong growth to continue in the years to come,鈥� Patrick Lutfy, the company鈥檚 senior vice-president of retail marketing, said in an emailed statement.

There are significantly more options now for Muslim consumers in grocery stores and at restaurants than there were when Subedar was growing up. He remembers his mother making pizza at home with naan because he couldn鈥檛 have pizza at a chain restaurant like many of his friends could.

鈥淟ook at how far we鈥檝e come,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow we鈥檝e got a multitude of different options.鈥�

Much of the innovation in halal food can be found in smaller, independent and specialty grocery stores, not to mention an often much wider selection, said Jivraj. Those stores tend to understand their customer base better and are more nimble as well, she said.

But over time, the big retailers have also realized they need to invest more in halal products, Jivraj said.

Nourish has been conducting a regular survey of Canadian halal consumers since 2016. The 2022 study found that more and more major food companies are meeting the needs of shoppers looking for halal products, with big box stores becoming a larger part of halal consumers鈥� grocery shopping.

The study also found that the Muslim community are savvy online shoppers, said Jivraj, which represents a challenge for independent stores 鈥� and an opportunity for the major grocery chains, which invested heavily in e-commerce during the pandemic.

Metro Inc., one of Canada鈥檚 largest grocers, has seen a 鈥渃onsiderable increase鈥� in demand for halal meat, said spokeswoman Stephanie Bonk. As a result, the grocer has dedicated more in-store space to halal products with a much larger assortment, she said, and halal products have experienced double-digit growth in recent years.

When Jivraj started blogging about halal restaurants in Toronto more than a decade ago, there were far fewer options 鈥� and even those that called themselves halal couldn鈥檛 always be trusted, as there was some fraud along the supply chain.

Jivraj said there鈥檚 a lot more trust in the halal food industry today than there was when she first began blogging about it. One thing that鈥檚 contributed to this is an increasing amount of transparency when it comes to labelling halal products, she said.

In 2016, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency started enforcing new halal labelling and advertising requirements. All halal claims must be accompanied by the name of an organization or person that certified it as halal.

Since the CFIA鈥檚 change, more organizations have popped up to fill demand for halal certification, said Subedar. However, it鈥檚 not a perfect system since those organizations aren鈥檛 regulated themselves, he said.

Fraud is still a problem in the halal food industry, according to Subedar. He cautioned consumers to do their research when they see a product labelled as halal, and get to know how different organizations do their certification.

Nevertheless, this move by the CFIA has been helpful for the consumer, said Subedar.

鈥淏efore, you can just write halal and no one can really question you,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut now there鈥檚 an authority or an organization behind it.鈥�

Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press