16
Science Talk
@Halal | July-august. 2020
by Nor Amin Haziq
Chairman, Global Haltech
Halal verified
sticker as part of halal assurance practice
Halal is very crucial and also a sensitive
issue for Muslims. Therefore,
the halal industry is fast-growing
due to its high commercial and
economic value.
That is the reason why the halal
concept should be considered seriously by the
authorities. Approval and monitoring of halal
status products are significant as the halal
status of products depends on the state of
ingredients used, and its process flow practise.
Control, enforcement and monitoring
of products are highly-needed to maintain
the quality and integrity of halal-certified
products to ensure no persecution and misappropriation
occur to Muslim consumers,
especially in Malaysia.
Authorities such as JAKIM and all Jabatan
Agama Islam Negeri have to play their role
as most of the products are prepared by the
complex formulation of recipes and using
imported ingredients. With so many cases of
cross-contamination of porcine happening
lately, especially in halal-certified products,
the halal status would be more convincing if
scientifically-proven.
HALAL STICKER
Halal sticker is a sticker placed on packaging
to show a product has been scientifically verified
through lab analysis that all ingredients
involved are porcine-free and do not exceed
the limit for alcohol.
The objective of the halal sticker programme
is to enhance the integrity of
halal-certified products. The sticker is allowed
once a certified and recognised laboratory
tests the product. This programme is for both
categories of halal, which are:
i) Halal-certified status products
The products are already halal-certified by a
local or international halal authority. As most
of the halal bodies grant two years validity,
reaudit only proceeds in the next two years.
Within two years, anything can happen to
the halal-certified product, such as crosscontamination
and mishandling of product
from factory to market shelf.
By having a halal sticker, it shows a halal
lab monitors the product. It will create higher
confidence in the consumer that halal status
is retained. In this case, the halal sticker as
a halal-monitoring process is an assurance
practice.
ii) Non-halal-certified status products
The product is not necessarily non-halal but
has yet to be certified by the halal authority.
However, this category is practised for a
different purpose in non-Muslim countries
compared to a Muslim country like Malaysia.
Anyway, using of halal stickers would be the
best practise in non-Muslim countries where
the Muslim population is a minority.
Non-Muslim Country
In non-Muslim countries, most of the halal
authority are by Muslim NGOs and Mosque
committee. Their roles are to monitor the
halalness of products for the sake of Muslim
minorities.
As they are not officially recognised to
become a halal authority, they are faced with
specific restrictions to be recognised as a
halal-certification body by Jakim or any government
agency. It would be a bit of a problem
to push manufacturers for products which
are daily needs of Muslims.
Thus, the halal sticker is proposed so that
it is more comfortable for Muslims to identify
halal products.
Muslim Country
The halal sticker practised in Muslim countries
is a bit different as the halal authority
has stringent requirements on the halal certification
process. Halal-certified products are
closely-monitored by halal bodies in Muslim
countries to ensure the halal status is at its
integrity.
But, there are problems during the halalcertification
process, especially for the small
and medium entrepreneur category. The said
problems may lead them to fail in their business.
The halal sticker may help them for the
following reasons:
• Easy access to marketing
Any business investment needs to gain
returns soonest possible for sustainability.
When the product is ready to be marketed,
halal-certification is highly value-added
in a Muslim country. However, due to lack
of experience in halal compliance and
budget constraints, the halal-certification
process may take time.
A few requirements needed by the
authorities may prolong the process, but
entrepreneurs need to generate revenue
from the product sale for daily operation. It
delays the product to the market. It is how
the halal sticker can solve the problem.
The sticker is granted once the lab
result proves it does not contain porcine
and does not exceed the limit for alcohol.
The halal-testing process takes a few days
to be completed and has minimal costs.
While waiting for the halal certificate,
which may take months, the product can
still be marketed to generate income.
• Market test