July-august. 2020 | @Halal
Science Talk
17
HALAL VERIFICATION PROCESS
Ingredients/Finished Product
INTERNAL HALAL COMMITTEE
PREAUDIT
Plant Based / Chemically synthesis
Islamic slaughtering
Slaughter
Animal Based
Halal animal
Non-‐Halal animal
Non-‐slaughter / Head cuJng
Non-‐Islamic slaughtering
REJECT
Halal Analysis
HALAL LABORATORY
VERIFICATION
Halalan
Pass
Toyyiban/Safety
Fail
Purity
Porcine/alcohol free
verified
SCIENTIFICALLY VERIFIED
(Halal verified s?cker)
HALAL AUTHORITY
CERTIFICATION
JAKIM
HALAL LOGO APPLICATION
MUSLIM
AUTHORITY
INTERNATIONAL
HALAL AUTHORITY
PASS
Halal certified
HALAL CERTIFIED
Some entrepreneurs jump into business
with a unique product. There will
be concern about market-acceptability.
They would be reluctant to invest further
for halal-certification. The halal label is
compulsory for the product to succeed in a
Muslim market. So, spending a little extra
to ensure products are porcine-free and
within limits of alcohol, would be a wise
decision.
An agreement which contains very stringent
requirement is needed to ensure the
entrepreneur always follows the guidelines
given by the halal authority. The most important
thing is the halal sticker is not a lifetime.
The timeframe is for one year, during which
the halal-certification should be completed —
failing which, the product won’t be allowed to
remain in the market with the halal sticker.
The halal sticker is offered on very stringent
terms, among being:
ii) Laboratory’s recognition status
• ISO17025
The so-called halal-compliance labs
invited for halal sticker programmes shall
be accredited ISO17025. However, ISO17025
is not the only need. There are also the Test
parameter and Sample scope. Halal test here
is the screening for porcine and alcohol
content in the product. The acceptable
parameter is the pork DNA test.
Labs may provide other parameters for
porcine screening such as ELISA, immunoassay,
polypeptide and others, provided all
those proposed test parameters have been
accredited ISO17025. The test parameter
for alcohol-screening is the quantitative
analysis of ethanol content in the sample
product.
As for sample scope, the recognised
halal-compliance lab will be allowed to
offer testing services based on the products
listed under ISO17025 accreditation.
All ISO17025 accredited labs will have their
list of sample scope done during method
validation process towards ISO17025. It
means the lab is only allowed to receive
sample products for halal tests based on
sample scope accredited under ISO17025.
• Authority’s Halal Panel Lab
Another stringent prerequisite is the
lab should be recognised by local halal
authorities such as Jakim and State halal
authorities. It may also require recognition
by International Halal Certification
Body which is accepted by Jakim for
international coverage services. Local or
international halal authority’s recognition
follows right after the lab has been
ISO17025 accredited and fulfils all test
parameter and sample scope as required
under ISO17025 accreditation as mentioned
above.
ii) Type of product allowed for Halal Sticker
The halal sticker is needed to prevent
misuse by halal-recognised labs and
manipulation by manufacturers. All
parties need to have clear guidelines on
the type of products allowed for the halal
sticker programme. A negative result of
porcine DNA screening would confirm no
porcine-based ingredient in the product,
but it may contain other halal animal DNA
from beef, mutton, chicken and others.
Halal-slaughtering might become an
issue as halal animals will remain halal
if the slaughtering process was Syariahcompliant.
Hence, to ensure the integrity
of halal stickers, the programme is offered
to products under the category of ‘nonanimal-based
ingredient’. It means only
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.
plant-based and chemically-synthesised-based
products are acceptable.
iii) Action taken on any issues arising
If any issues arise, such as products which
hold the halal sticker are found to contain
porcine, the responsible halal-recognised
lab needs to arrange for cross-checking
test under Contamination Scenario Investigation
(CSI). The same product with the
same batch number would be required
from the factory and market shelf.
Then the product would be sent to
the recognised lab and government
lab for a halal test. Any findings would
be discussed among the special task
team to detect if it was sabotage, crosscontamination
or mishandling of the
formulation process. The lab would bear
all the related costs.
Halal sticker is an innovative idea
proposed as an alternative to enhance
the halal-certification integrity itself. It
would be a mutual collaboration between
halal authority, halal-recognised lab and
halal players. The objective is to provide
the best product by the best quality with
the best integrity.
Again, halal science is the best platform
to harmonise all parties for the benefit of
the consumers. That’s the importance of
halal science, that’s the value of the halal
logo, and that’s the beauty of Islam. Halal
is created by Muslims but for the benefit
of Muslims and non-Muslims.