Robert Harris Halal foods are foods that muslims are allowed to eat under the Islamic Shari’ah. The term halal means permitted or allowed. Halal specifies both which foods are allowed, as well as how it must be prepared. Halal food must not be prepared, processed, transported, or stored using facilities which have been previously used for non halal foods. Halal foods must be slaughtered by a muslim under very specific procedures. If a food does not meet the many halal criteria, it is considered haram, or not permitted or allowed to be consumed. The term mashbooh, on the other hand, is used for foods that are considered doubtful or questionable to consume. Halal is a global marketing issue in the world of food for many reasons. One issue deals with ingredients lists found on food labels. Companies are not required to list everything they use to make their foods, therefore some of the ingredients may be haram, without consumers having any way of knowing. About one fourth of the world population is muslim. In the United States, muslims have approximately $12 billion of buying power. They want to go out with non muslim friends and be able to eat like everyone else. Due to this, some companies went completely, or partially halal. Some of these companies include McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Organic Valley, Nestle, Dominos, and Campbell’s. McDonalds serves as an excellent example of how halal foods can be a global marketing issue. They were serving non halal meat as halal, and ended up paying the muslims a significant amount of money to pay for their faults. Another reason halal is an issue is because some companies that decide to go halal are boycotted by other customers due to unethical animal treatment, the idea of funding terrorism, and a feeling of lack of freedom of choice for non muslim customers.