LONDON – Visitors gathered on Saturday, August 19, at London’s Tobacco Dock during the London Halal Food Festival, which takes place on 19 and 20 August in London, United Kingdom.

The festival, deemed UK’s biggest halal food festival,

An estimated 18,000 people are expected to attend over the weekend.

There will also be live performances from celebrity chefs in a special cookery theater, including a live demonstration from MasterChef Champion, Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed.

The festival highlights include a dedicated Italian Halal Zone and a Man Vs Food competition open to visitors.

Other companies present took advantage of the huge crowds by promoting their new and latest line of halal products.

The concept of halal, — meaning permissible in Arabic — has traditionally been applied to food.

Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife from their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.

Now other goods and services can also be certified as halal, including cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Halal food is consumed not only by 1.5 billion Muslims around the world, but also by at least 500 million non-Muslims in the $2 billion global industry.