Halal Food Certification issues and

recommendations
1. Originality of halal food certification

Issues/Challenges:
The Halal certificate and logo not only guarantees Muslims what they
consume or use is according to the Islamic laws but also encourages
manufactures to meet the Halal standards.

Undeniably the Halal aspect is now accepted as a quality system

worldwide that appeals to both Muslims and non-Muslims as well.

“Halal is not only seen from the religious viewpoint but also as an
important component in the business world especially with the
emerging global Halal market. Non-Muslim nations also give priority to
Halal products due to the emphasis on quality and safety aspect," said
Saimah Mukhtar, the Halal Hub Division Director of the Malaysian
Islamic Development Department (Jakim) during an interview with
Bernama.

Nonetheless, due to the big market potential for the Halal products,
some gullible parties have manipulated the use of the Halal expression
for their own ends.

Recommendations:

#blum wat..adik just letak suggestion yang bersesuaian untuk

selesaikan isu yang kak dah state

2. Standard of Halal food certification

The issue of who sets the standards, who does the audit and
issues the certificate is, with all due respect to those concerned,
something of a can of Halal (or not!) worms. Generally speaking,
in South East Asia, in their multi-cultural societies, this is a
relatively well-developed government-run operation. In the Muslim
majority countries, Halal is much lower profiles, and Halal is by
and large assumed more than it is enforced or regulated.

In the Muslim minority countries, and this is perhaps what

concerns us all the most, it is something of a free-for-all where
 anyone can set themselves up as a Halal certifier and in addition
to conducting the audit (to their own standard) and issuing the
certificate, some are also acting as sales agents charging
commission on sales.

Clearly the one-man certification agency auditing and certifying a

multi-million dollar operation is an imbalanced and unsustainable
situation. It is also totally out of synch with the practised norms of
manufacturing procedures all over the world. A clear separation
between standards, accreditation, and audit and certificate
issuance is the manufacturing industry norm, and in order for
Halal to live up to its full potential, these protocols will sooner or
later be practiced in the Halal industry also.

Recommendations:
• Unified Halal certificate
o Currently, each state is using its respective standards in
issuing the Halal certificate.
o To ensure greater uniformity, the word JAKIM on the
certificate can be replaced with KERAJAAN MALAYSIA
(Government of Malaysia).
o If all states agree on a common Halal certificate, this
means they will be adopting the Malaysian Halal standard.

3. Approval of Halal certification and logo

Issues/Challenges:
• The Halal logo and certificate approval

o Throughout 2009, Jakim received 1,907 applications for the

Halal certificates with 622 of the applicants being
Bumiputeras while the rest being non-Bumiputeras.

o A total of 301 Halal certificates were approved for

Bumiputera parties and 886 for non-Bumiputera.

o "The number of Halal approval withdrawn due to several

reasons including lack of cleanliness is only about 10 per
cent," said Halal Hub Division Director of the Malaysian
Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Puan Saimah.
She also was adding that Jakim takes into consideration the
interest of the consumers and the industry itself.
 Recommendations:

#blum wat..adik just letak suggestion yang bersesuaian untuk

selesaikan isu yang kak dah state

4. International approval of food certification

Issues/Challenges:
• Jakim has recognised 47 Islamic bodies in 23 nations to issue
the Halal certificate for raw products, completed products and
the abattoir for products that are marketed in Malaysia.

Recommendations:
• Register the Malaysian Halal logo overseas.

5. Related Halal food certification issues

Issues/Challenges:

• The development of high value-added resource-based products is still

limited.

• Malaysian exports consist of primary and intermediate products.

• 70% of the total raw materials used in the food processing industries are
imported.

• Farmers are reluctant to produce on contract for food processing

companies. As such, inconsistent supply resulted in many small and
medium scale agro-based firms to operate below capacity.

• Halal license requirement is too expensive for the smaller producers.

Recommendations:

• Processing Industry, without which it is hard to realize the potential of

Malaysian’s agriculture and avert disaster related to bumper harvest and
deflation in the global market.

• Farmers DO NOT adhere to agreements to sell to food processor once

prices for their raw produce improve.

• Special development program is created to bring in food processing

 technology and equipment. Import tariffs to be liberalized on this
equipment.

• Food Tech and Food Science be made a priority subject in institutions of

higher learning. Encouragement is made to food producers who innovate
on traditional Malaysian food offerings.

• To provide tax rebate incentive etc. to encourage the farming sector to

employ 100% local worker through investment in mechanization and
human resources development to upgrade productivity.