The Saudi Halal Center, under the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), has launched the digital platform “Halal Mark Track”—a system that integrates Halal standards with environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements throughout the supply chain. The project is being implemented in cooperation with Halal Product Development Company, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company, and THIQAH, with the aim of strengthening trust in the Halal ecosystem and reinforcing Saudi Arabia’s position as a central hub in the global Halal industry.
Consumers are increasingly taking the initiative to check labels and product origins—a trend that digital verification platforms such as Halal Mark Track are designed to support.
From Static Certification to Real-Time Digital Verification
What distinguishes Halal Mark Track from traditional certification models is its approach. Instead of issuing a static certificate valid for a fixed period, the system enables real-time traceability and verification of Halal compliance throughout the supply chain—from raw materials and production to distribution. This trend is gaining momentum across the industry. Saudi Arabia previously piloted the Saudi Smart Flock system, which uses facial-recognition technology to monitor the health and productivity of small livestock at farm level, demonstrating a comprehensive strategy to digitalize the Halal supply chain rather than limiting verification to the final certification stage.
Context: A USD 7 Trillion Market Being Reshaped Around Trust
According to the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), the global Halal market was worth approximately USD 7 trillion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 10 trillion by 2030—a scale that clearly places the industry far beyond the “niche market” stage. Saudi Arabia is currently the world’s largest investor in the Halal sector, with investments of SAR 5.5 billion, equivalent to approximately USD 1.4 billion. The launch of Halal Mark Track indicates a shift in the country’s competitive strategy: rather than relying solely on the size of its domestic market, Saudi Arabia is positioning digital verification infrastructure as a distinctive advantage to attract international businesses seeking certification through its Halal center.
Indirect but Noteworthy Implications for Vietnam
The digitalization of Halal verification is not occurring in isolation. At the same time, Indonesia—the world’s largest Muslim-majority market—has signed a Halal cooperation agreement with New Zealand to simplify procedures for exporting red meat and dairy products ahead of the mandatory Halal certification deadline at the end of 2026. Industry observers have repeatedly warned that mutual-recognition mechanisms between certification bodies could become trade barriers if they are not established in time. For Vietnam, where the National Halal Certification Center (HALCERT) has only recently begun operations and is negotiating bilateral recognition with international organizations, the lesson concerns not only the pace of negotiations but also the technical architecture. If Vietnam’s domestic certification system is built from the outset with data integration and digital-verification capabilities, Vietnamese businesses will be able to connect more easily with platforms such as Halal Mark Track, instead of having to overhaul the entire infrastructure at a later stage.
Conclusion
The global Halal race is entering a new phase in which competitive advantage depends not only on whether a certificate exists, but also on whether the certification data can be verified quickly, transparently and across national borders. For later entrants such as Vietnam, this presents both a challenge of speed and a rare opportunity to build technology-ready certification infrastructure correctly from the starting line, rather than having to repair an outdated system in the future.
Sources: Saudi Gazette, HalalFocus.com, Salaam Gateway, Arab CIO Look Media.
