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@Halal | APRIL-MAY. 2019
Science Talk
by BRO AMIN
CHAIRMAN,GLOBAL HALTECH
science
Halal
to verify and certify
T
Halal across region and religion
HE concept of Halal is very cru-
cial in Islam, and a very sensitive
issue for Muslims. The need for
Muslims to consume only halal
products, coupled with high
commercial and economic value,
has made the halal industry to become one of
the fastest growing industry.
For this reason, the halal concept should be
taken seriously by the authorities. For Muslim
consumers, approval and monitoring of local
or imported products to clarify whether the
product is halal or not is very important.
For a product to be deemed halal, the ingre-
dients are to be scrutinized. And although the
product may be manufactured or owned by
Muslims, it is good to monitor and confi rm of
its halal status through scientifi c approaches.
Recently, there has been many doubts on
products being either halal or not, especially
ones without any halal logo on its packaging.
And many who doesn’t have it are because of
the complicated formulation and technology
used during the product manufacturing.
Thus, many aspects such as controlling,
enforcement and monitoring are needed to
maintain the quality of a product as stated in
product labelling, and to feature the halal logo
for Muslim consumers.
This is to ensure that no persecution and
misappropriation will occur to Muslim con-
sumers especially in Malaysia.
SCIENTIFIC ASPECT IN
VERIFICATION AND
MONITORING OF HALAL STATUS
Approval and
monitoring of
local or imported
products to
clarify whether
the product is
halal or not is
very important
Verifi cation and monitoring of halal status
of a product falls under responsibility of
the authorities such as JAKIM and Jabatan
Agama Islam Negeri (JAIN).
However, the halal status of a product will
be more convincing with proof, i.e. scientifi c
results.
These days, most manufacturers uses
complex and complicated formulation of
recipe and imported ingredients for their food
product. Thus, verifi cation of the ingredients
of the product through laboratory analysis
would really assist the auditing process in
factories.
This also helps to weave out issues where
manipulation and irresponsible attitude of
certain manufacturers without integrity in
ensuring that their ingredients are truly free
from porcine DNA. Thus, raw materials used
in their products shall be verifi ed through
laboratory analysis.
In Malaysia, there has been many issues
regarding the halal status of products that
has been certifi ed halal by the authorities
through such investigation.
These uncertainties among Malaysians on
the halal-ness of popular products on shelves
shows that manufacturers absolutely need
continual monitoring of their product’s halal
status – backed by lab analysts.
ROLE OF HALAL SCIENCE
The role of halal science laboratory is essen-
tial in determining the halal status of raw
materials in products. It works as a reference
and a source of scientifi c evidence in halal
product verifi cation.
The framework of halal basically consists
of 3 main sectors that come together with
laboratory results in halal enforcement. The
three main sectors are:
The Authorities: JAKIM, JAIS and Non-
Government Organization (NGO) such as
PPIM as the halal monitoring authorities.
They will use the results of lab analysis to
fulfi ll the requirements of halal certifi cation
when auditing the product.
Industry: Manufacturers of food products
or consumables. Industry needs results of lab
analysis as reference to ensure that ingredi-
ents of their products are free from forbidden
(haram) ingredients.
Consumer: Consumers who uses and con-
sumes the retailed products. Some of the more
particular consumers always want to know
lab analysis results to ensure that the product
that they consume is truly halal, and that
they are not being deceived by irresponsible
manufacturers.
This puts the role of laboratories as a neces-
sity, an additional reference by the three main
sectors above to secure halal certifi cation
in an effi cient and high integrity manner.
Moreover, the value of a halal Logo can be put
as high standard level of quality which can
fulfi ll the demand of Muslim consumer and
also the syariah of Islam itself.
ROLE OF HALAL ANALYSIS
Verifi cation of halal status is governed by the
‘Halaalan Toyyiban ethic’ which is a scientifi -
cally proven ethical code.
Halal verifi cation plays an important role
based on the result of lab tests which verifi es
the ingredients of the product to be free from
ingredients that are haram. However, analysis
being done on the ingredients doesn’t solely
focus on alcohol and porcine DNA pres-
ents, but also on the safety and purity of a
product.
To simplify, a Halaalan test is a lab test
to determine that the product either has