ARTHUR – The Arthur area will soon be home to a meat processing plant that will be able to continue to expand the market for halal meats in Ontario and Canada.
GTA-based Amir Quality Meats, a halal meat processing and distribution company, held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for an 80,000 square feet abattoir for one of its sub-companies Amir Quality Poultry.
This expansion would make the existing abattoir, purchased by Amir Quality Meats in 2022, five times larger than it is.
Tony Aziz, co-owner and CEO, said this would make it the first Muslim-owned, federally-licensed, vertically-integrated, Class A primary processing meat facility in Canada.
It’s a mouthful of a title, but director of operations Adam Aziz who is son of co-owners Sherry and Tony Aziz, said in an interview it is a big step for the company and for the halal market.
“It’s not just the slaughter process that’s going to be going through here, it’s going to be vertically integrated through the entire process all the way to being packaged and ready to ship out,” Adam said.
A federal license allows the company to sell across Canada and makes them eligible for exporting.
Currently, Amir Quality Meat buys halal meat from other slaughter facilities and will no longer need to do so with poultry when this facility is completed in early 2026.
“With this expansion, we will have complete control over the entire process and supply chain,” Adam said.
The market for halal products has changed a lot in the past few decades, Sherry said.
“Halal meat was not as accessible as it is today, supply was scarce and the few processors who handled halal meat did so in limited quantities,” Sherry told those gathered. “I envisioned a world where halal options would be accessible to everyone, not just an afterthought or a part-time business for someone.”
Tony explained his father-in-law started a halal distribution company over 30 years ago when he saw the need in the community. He started Muhammed Meats and would take his team to a farm in Ajax to oversee the halal slaughter process and then distribute products across the GTA to grocery stores and butcher shops.
“Now 30 years later, his daughter, my wife Sherry Aziz is continuing his legacy by breaking ground and paving the way for the Muslim community,” he said.
Adam said his family being in the industry for decades now has seen a growth in the halal business.
“We’ve been seeing the demand and needs increase, especially with the Muslim population growing in Ontario and Canada,” Adam said. “We’re seeing that demand and need increase every day.”
