23
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER. 2019 | @Halal
Business
T
HE Malaysian Institute of Trans-
port, or MITRANS, is a centre
of excellence pertaining to the
transport (public transport) and
logistics (goods delivery) industry
as of 2014. The centre operates
under Universiti Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM),
Vice Chancellor Department for Research and
Innovation.
THE HALAL SUPPLY CHAIN
“It all started back in 2010, where we had one
of our postgraduate students doing research
on halal logistics, specifi cally in the poultry
industry,” says Dr Harlina Suzana Jaafar.
Dr Harlina is the Director of MITRANS, and
we had the chance to catch up with her and
learn a thing or two about the halal supply
chain.
“That student’s research was the start-
ing point for us to delve into halal supply
chain as a whole, because halal logistics is
a component in the overall process known
as halal supply chain. This research helps to
strengthen MS2400 standards (at that time
was called Halalan Toyyiban Assurance
Pipeline) that contains three components
- transport, warehouse, and retail,” she
explains.
Strengthening
the halal supply chain
MITRANS strives to train and help in building a better, more established
halal supply chain for global logistics
Because of that, MITRANS has been heavily
involved in the development of halal supply
chain standards led by the Department of
Standards Malaysia (DSM) in partnership
with the Department of Islamic Development
Malaysia (JAKIM) and other government and
private agencies. “We have signed an MoU
with both parties to ensure our continuous
involvement in the creation of the standard,”
Dr Harlina states. As of now, MITRANS, in
partnership with JAKIM and DSM with
the assistance of other government and
private agencies have revised the MS2400 to
ensure the relevancy of the standards. “The
revision has been already published earlier
this year.”
HOW DOES A SUPPLY
CHAIN BECOME HALAL?
Some may fi nd it funny that there is a need to
have a process be ‘certifi ed-halal’, even though
when it comes to halal, we mostly think about
the product itself. To that, Dr Harlina responds:
“We heavily emphasise on the manufactur-
ing process of a product just as we do for the
product itself to be certifi ed halal. However, we
tend to overlook the other aspect, the logistics
part. Just as there is risk in contamination
during manufacturing, there is also risk of
contamination during the delivery process.
Therefore, there is a need to somehow oversee
the process and ensure there is a set standard
for halal logistics.”
To further visualise, a true halal supply
chain would entail halal-certifi ed food prod-
ucts to be segregated from other non-halal food
products, delivered separately by transports
that are assured to have no prior delivery of
non-halal food products (or have been cleaned
through ‘sertu’), and to be displayed in retail
markets separately.
A RESEARCH GROUP
THROUGH AND THROUGH
As part of MITRANS’ eff orts to develop the
Malaysian standards for halal supply chain,
they make their contribution to the cause
through research. Dr Harlina explains: “We
were able to acquire a grant amounting to
about RM6 million to perform research back
in 2010 from the Ministry of Education on
logistics in general. The numerous research
from that grant was the halal logistics from
the student I mentioned just now. And it was
from the numerous research from 2010 that we
were able to lay down a strong foundation as
a research centre, powered by UiTM students
completing their postgraduate studies.”
MITRANS had also secured a RM1.6 mil-
lion grant to conduct research specifi cally on
halal supply chain. They were able to gather 28
students to conduct research on the various
aspects of halal supply chain.
“All the research done made us become the
referral centre for halal supply chain. Although
now there are many institutes that have done
similar research, we are proud to say that we
are the pioneers in research for halal logistics.
(Top) Manufacturing is
one part of the whole
process known as a
supply chain, which
means that a complete
assurance of a product’s
halal status would
incorporate every
process, including
logistics.
INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE
Besides doing so much for Malaysia to be more
proactive in the halal supply chain through
DSM, MITRANS also has a hand in the Stan-
dards and Metrology Institute for Islamic
Countries (SMIIC) based in Istanbul, Turkey.
“Our role in SMIIC is chairing the Technical
Committee 10 (TC 10) for Halal Supply Chain.
Given the trust by the DSM, we are responsible
to the upbringing of standards among OIC
countries (Organisation of Islamic Coopera-
tion) with around 30 other countries.”
It is through the revised MS2400 that
MITRANS was given the trust by DSM to chair
TC 10 in SMIICC committee, and after its
upcoming fourth visit to SMIICC, it is expected
that the standards will be fi nalised and utilised
among the 50-odd member countries as they
see fi t.
THE FUTURE OF HALAL LOGISTICS
ALSO A TRAINING GROUND
The institute, with its strong foundation and
rapport for halal supply chain, was given the
responsibility to conduct a training for a group
of offi cers from JAKIM on halal logistics back
in 2016. “Their backgrounds in halal concerns
only the best practices of food production and
manufacturing. We conducted a training to
help them better understand the halal supply
chain so that they may be equipped in working
towards setting a halal assurance standard,”
says Dr Harlina.
The training MITRANS provides has become
a stepping stone for them to strengthen the
enforcement aspect of halal logistics. Part of
MITRANS’ role in training is to develop Train-
ing for Trainers (TOT) modules for JAKIM
auditors to have the knowledge in auditing
logistics companies that may be interested in
becoming halal-certifi ed.
“Together with other private and gov-
ernment agencies, we were also given the
responsibility to translate the revised stan-
dards into Bahasa for the use of applying
companies,” she adds.
Dr Harlina explains
the role MITRANS has
played in strengthening
the awareness and
development of standard
for halal logistics.
It is silly to say that halal logistics is and will still
be a niche in the overall global trade industry.
As mentioned numerous times across this very
publication, the global halal trade is an immi-
nent gargantuan of an industry that will only
see upward movement for the next 50 years.
And with the growing number of Muslims
and demand for halal products, it could only
be strengthen through an established halal
supply chain. Dr Harlina comments: “We don’t
see the halal industry to suddenly drop in the
near future. My hopes is to have Malaysia to be
the champion in the halal industry, therefore
paving the way for halal supply chain to be
hand-in-hand with the growing of the indus-
try. We can only have true halal trade when we
have an established standard to adhere to.”