Buddhist Thailand hunts for halal gold

From hotels with segregated swimming pools to jelly made from seaweed instead of pig bones, Buddhist Thailand is chasing halal gold as it welcomes Muslim visitors and touts its wares to the Islamic world. [Photo/Agencies]

But Dr Winai Dahlan, founder of the Halal Science Centre at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, says Thailand was well placed to make the change.

Five percent of its population is Muslim and - outside of the insurgency plagued southern border region - is well-integrated within the Buddhist majority.

It was local Thai Muslims who first began asking for the country's halal testing center, a business that scours products for any banned substances and has since boomed.

"Fifteen years ago there was only 500 food plants that had halal certification. Now it's 6,000," Winai told AFP as female lab technicians in headscarves tested food products for traces of pork DNA.

Over the same period the number of halal certified products made in Thailand has gone from 10,000 to 160,000, he added.

It's paid off. The government estimates the halal food industry is already worth $6 billion a year.

As Thailand has quickly learned, there's gold at the end of the halal rainbow.