Source: Newhouse News Service

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/105835024062400.xml

On July 16, 2003 Newhouse News Service reported that "in July 2000, New Jersey became the first state to pass a law to protect consumers of halal food, but three years later the rules still have not been implemented, to the dismay of the Muslim community... The delay has not slowed the rapid expansion of halal food options in the state... 'When I first came here, there was no halal food place easy to find,' said Magdy Hagig, who moved to New Jersey from Egypt 14 years ago and now is president of the Islamic Society of Central New Jersey. 'You had to go at least an hour from central New Jersey to find one, in Paterson. Now they're all over the place...' Now, there are halal pizzerias and halal Chinese restaurants. The word 'halal,' Arabic for 'permitted,' appears on city storefronts and restaurant windows throughout Jersey City, Newark and Paterson."