‘Halal certification won’t be cancelled’

It'll be suspended until ritual cleansing process is carried out, says MCA president after meeting with minister in charge of religious affairs in the PM's department.

PUTRAJAYA: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of religious affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom, today agreed to suspend, and not revoke, halal certification when contamination is detected in products.

This was revealed by MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek who together with representatives from small and medium industries (SMI) met with authorities over matter.

“When contamination is detected and producers hold halal certification, it will usually be cancelled and you’ll have to re-apply for one after samak (cleansing) process,” he said.

“However, today the minister agreed to suspend halal certification until the samak (cleansing) exercises are carried out and producers can apply to renew the certification.”

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) and the Chemistry Department of Malaysia.

Both urged the minister not to make a public announcement of suspensions of halal certificates as only a particular item may have been affected by contamination.

Chua revealed that the minister agreed to their request.

When asked about the sensitivities of the Muslims, Chua defended the manufacturers, saying that contamination only affected one section of the producer’s products.

“Many companies produce many products…it should not be announced to the whole world because (business of) their other non-halal products will be affected as well,” he said.

Independent lab tests to be considered

The MCA was flooded with complaints from SMIs over the halal certification process when Jakim declared that a butter product from New Zealand was non-halal recently.

Currently, Jakim engages with the chemistry department to conduct tests on products over contamination or issuance of halal certificates.

The MCA had also highlighted cases where contamination tests conducted by independent labs contradicted the results of the chemistry department.

In light of this, Chua also requested at today’s meeting that independent lab tests to detect contamination be also considered.

Chua said that representatives from the chemistry department took heed of the matter and will compile a list of independent labs authorised to conduct such tests.

He also said that the current DNA testing by Jakim was too sensitive and a standard benchmark adhering to international standards need to be established.

When met later, Jakim’s halal hub deputy director Hakimah Mohd Yusoff confirmed Chua’s statement.

“Under the current regulations, halal certification will be revoked for contaminated products and after taking remedial measures, the producers can appeal after two weeks,” she said.

“After today’s meeting, we will issue a suspension and allow producers to take corrective measures. It depends on them, if they act quickly, the matter can be resolved sooner,” she said.