06
@Halal | september-october. 2019
International
Dubai’s IHAF to develop
ISO-level halal standards
The International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF)
has a new leader and she wants the Dubai-based
body to help facilitate the development of ISO-
level halal standards.
Dr Rehab Faraj Al Ameri told Salaam Gateway
this vision is one that IHAF will achieve by working
closely with
its member
accreditation
bodies as well as
stakeholders such
as assessors and
technical experts.
Al Ameri’s
predecessor
and IHAF’s first
secretary-general,
Mohamed Saleh
Badri, has left her
an organisation
ready for growth.
“In less than
three years, we
were able to have
35 members,
most of which are from non-Muslim countries. This
is a huge achievement within a limited timeframe,
taking into consideration the fragmented nature
of the market,” Al Ameri, who is also the director
of the National Accreditation System (NAS) at
the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and
Metrology (ESMA), told Salaam Gateway.
IHAF was established by the Dubai Islamic
Economy Development Center (DIEDC) and ESMA
in 2016 to harmonize accreditation practices in the
halal industry. Badri’s, and IHAF’s, goal in the early
years was to gather the accreditation bodies of the
major countries that supply halal food.
Bahrain in talks with
Indonesia to set up halal
certification body
Bahrain is exploring a collaboration with
Indonesia to establish a halal certification agency
to help the Gulf Arab country’s food exporters
selling to Saudi Arabia.
The move follows Saudi’s new rule that food
imports into the kingdom require halal certification
as well as other product-relevant papers.
The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce (BCCI) held
a meeting on Tuesday in Manama with officials
from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA)
to address Saudi’s new food import rules that
require international accreditation certificates
such as ISO 22000 and HACCP, in addition to halal
certification, reported the state news agency.
The meeting also included government officials
from Bahrain’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of
Industry, Commerce and Industry, and Economic
Development Board.
The head of BCCI’s food wealth committee,
Khalid Al Amin, told that the industry body has
proposed a grace period for traders to meet Saudi
Arabia’s new requirements that come into effect in
two months.
Vietnam-Malaysia Halal
Certification Centre
established in Can Tho
An agreement to this effect was signed by the
NHO-QSCert Organisation of NHONHO Technology
Co., Ltd. and Malaysia’s RSD Management Solution
in Can Tho on August 6.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Hoang Ba
Nghi, General Director of NHONHO Technology Co.,
Ltd., said many countries in the Middle East have
great demand for Vietnamese products, especially
vegetables and seafood.
Statistics show that, Vietnam’s export revenue
to the region increased from 12 billion USD in 2016
to 14 billion USD last year, which has reflected the
great potential of the market, he said.
One of the major barriers facing Vietnamese
exporters is the Halal certification, Nghi said, adding
that the Vietnam-Malaysia Halal certification centre
will provide Halal certificates to businesses that
want to export goods to Islamic countries.
Philippine food giant eyes
exports to Gulf Arab states
The PureFoods-Hormel
Company has two of its
facilities certified as halal
T
he company, created in 1999 as a joint
venture of the country’s largest F&B
firm San Miguel and US-based Hormel,
manufactures processed meat products in
the Philippines.
The PureFoods-Hormel’s facilities for
the production of Purefoods Corned Beef
and Tender Juicy Chicken Franks are halal-
certified by UAE-based Prime Group, the
certifier said in a recent statement.
Prime is recognised by the Emirates
Authority for Standardisation and Metrology
(ESMA) as a halal certification body. The halal
certification following ESMA’s standards
will allow The PureFoods-Hormel to sell its
products into the UAE and the rest of the Gulf
Arab states.
“Additional products in the company’s
diverse food portfolio are also expected to be
available soon, once they are found to be in
compliance with the certification require-
ments,” said Prime. PureFoods-Hormel said
working with Prime for halal certification
is part of its “continuing efforts to expand
into the UAE and the greater Middle East
market. Carrying halal certification assures
our long-time and first-time consumers that
the products we offer are in compliance with
strict regulatory standards,” said The Pure-
Foods-Hormel Company’s Raul Nazareno.
The company also has a presence else-
where in Southeast Asia, where it operates as
P.T. San Miguel PureFoods Indonesia, and San
Miguel-Hormel (VN) Co. in Vietnam.
Parent company San Miguel Food and
Beverage is listed on the Philippine Stock
Exchange and is owned by diversified con-
glomerate San Miguel Corporation. The F&B
unit is divided into three business groups
manufacturing beer and non-alcoholic bever-
ages, spirits, and food.
Muslim Council
of Britain calls for
halal vaccine
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is
calling for the development of a halal vaccine
after the UK government said the current vac-
cine is unpopular in Muslim majority areas.
The council said that Fluenz is not halal as
it contains gelatin from pigs. Fluenz, a nasal
spray that prevents the flu, is set to be given
to every healthy child of primary school age
in England.
The council also told the Telegraph today,
July 29, that it was advising imams to tell par-
ents that Fluenz is “not acceptable in Islam.”
“We have consulted the scholars and this
is their view. Since then we have been giving
people the information so that they can
make their judgment,” said Dr Shuja Shafi,
the chairman of the MCB’s research and
documentation committee.
“We need another vaccine which is halal
and can be offered to all. We urge the govern-
ment and the industry to make this happen,”
he added.
Since the statement from MCB, Public
Health England (PHE) has expressed fears
over the number of parents withdrawing
their children from the vaccine program
since the Muslim Council of Britain made its
announcement.
The Royal Society for Public Health backed
the MCB’s statement, urging the government
to offer a halal alternative vaccine acceptable
to Muslims as the situation “adds to the risk
of major flu outbreaks.”
PHE said there are no “suitable alterna-
tives” to Fluenz “for healthy children.”
While there are currently injectable flu
vaccines available that do not contain gelatin,
they are not as effective and are “only recom-
mended as part of the program for children
and adults who are at high risk of the com-
plications of flu.”
England’s National Health Service (NHS)
is urging Muslim parents to consider making
an exception because the vaccine can be
“considered different from ingesting food.”
Gelatin is used as a stabilizer to ensure
vaccines remains safe and effective during
storage. UK Health authorities gave a warn-
ing that changing the stabilizers in vaccines
would require “extensive laboratory and
clinical studies. Because of this, developing a
new safe and effective vaccine with a differ-
ent stabilizer may take several years or may
never happen.”