Article 1: How AI is changing halal certification and why accuracy matters

On 29 May 2014, five days after Malaysia’s health ministry said it had discovered strains of pig DNA in two of three batches of Cadbury chocolate, the Malaysian Muslim Wholesalers and Retailers Association (MAWAR) instructed 800 affiliated stores to pull down and return Cadbury and Kraft Foods products. This decision closely followed a call for nationwide boycott of all Cadbury products made by over 20 Malaysian-Muslim groups. 

Cadbury chocolate for the Malaysian market was approved by JAKIM, the state agency overseeing Islamic religious affairs. After this discovery, the regulatory body suspended the halal certificates previously issued for the two products, citing ministry's findings. 

On 2 June, the minister responsible for Islamic affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom, differed with the health ministry’s claim of impermissible DNA, on the premise that the agency had sent several samples of the chocolates to an accredited laboratory where none had tested positive. The ministry's samples, Baharom informed reporters, had not been sourced directly from the factory.