Halal ready meals provide relief to Rohingya Refugees

Natural or man-made disasters often lead to malnutrition as people do not have access to the food they need, but Brenei-based manufacturer and distributor Saahtain is attempting to combat this issue.

Recently, an estimated 600,000 people from Myanmar’s ethnic Muslim minority, Rohingya, have fled to the southern Bangladesh city of Cox’s Bazar. But with numbers increasing and the weather worsening, providing food and shelter to Rohingya refugees has become crucial.

While the majority of aid is often dry foods such as pulses and rices, this is often not helpful to people who do not have access to clean water and cooking utensils. Saahtain’s Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) can provide easy relief to people in difficult situations.

“Imagine that you are sitting in a makeshift shelter with these dry rations in front of you. How are you going to cook? [With] the absence of halal food relief globally where there is disaster, man-made or natural, it is next to impossible to get decent halal food to people who need it,” said the CEO of Saahtain Group, Adeel Khan.

The company’s humanitarian food relief brand, Tayyib Meals, offers meals that are nutritional, 100% natural and most importantly do not require any cooking. There are over 90 Halal-certified international recipes that have up to three years’ shelf life, including Chicken Biryani, Date Porridge and Cheesy Rice.

As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Saahtain has supported several charities and organisations, such as HSBC, Citibank and PepsiCo, since 2014. By preserving naturally cooked meals, its food products have already provided relief in the aftermath of Gaza conflict and the earthquake in Nepal, as well as feeding the orphans in Ghana. This makes them the ideal solution to feed displaced Rohingya refugees.

Working alongside a UK charity, Saahtain loaded a container of Halal Chicken & Rice MRE in Salambigar in Brunei ready to help those in Cox’s Bazar.

“We see ourselves as a growing member of the ASEAN Islamic economy,” stated Khan. “Our business solves many pain points in the Halal food sector. From feeding Muslim travellers to Halal humanitarian food relief, we are at the forefront delivering innovative solutions.”