(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - France’s halal market, now estimated at 5.5 billion euros with about 10 percent annual growth, became a political issue in recent weeks as President Nicolas Sarkozy used it in an unabashed pitch for votes from the anti-immigrant far-right.The raw facts about halal butchering became a top issue on the election campaign trail, to the point that Sarkozy’s Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, said halal and kosher slaughter were outdated “ancestral traditions” that should be scrapped.That hit a raw nerve in France’s Muslim and Jewish communities – both the largest of their kind in Europe – whose leaders complained openly. The issue has since mostly faded from the campaign for the two-round presidential election, which ends on May 6.“It was a lot of noise for nothing,” said Aissa Osmane, who sells sharia-compliant spaghetti sauces with halal beef in the Bolognese and smoked poultry cubes for bacon in the carbonara.The halal market can only grow as the 5-million strong Muslim community further integrates into French life, said the businessman from the Paris suburb of Villetaneuse.“Muslims live in today’s world like everybody else, they’re busy and want ready-made foods,” he said.“The politicians are just looking for votes,” said Rached Abssi, sales director for the Kenza Halal processed meat company in the same northern Paris suburb. “We’re just an excuse for them not to talk about the financial crisis.”
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