Malaysia will seek stakeholder feedback for halal SOPs, Halal Council to be reactivated

Malaysia’s government will seek feedback from industry players and foreign embassies to improve the recognition process of halal certification bodies abroad, state news agency Bernama reported on Monday (Jan 25).

Bernama quoted the minister in the prime minister’s department (religious affairs) Zulkifli Mohamed Al-Bakri as saying that the move is meant to strengthen the country’s halal certification by fine-tuning the recognition procedures of foreign halal certification bodies.

The procedures will be uploaded to the www.halal.gov.my portal for public comment by stakeholders. 

Bernama also reported that the Malaysian Halal Council (MHC) will be “reactivated”. The MHC was set up in 2016 but abolished under Malaysia’s previous government.

Its members include representatives from several ministries, and related industries. MHC did not convene any meetings last year but will be “reactivated” to meet this year. It will be temporarily chaired by the prime minister, according to local media reports.  

The government wants to make the MHC an “umbrella body” to monitor the execution of instructions and policies implemented by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), local newspaper New Straits Times reported.

These developments follow the country’s “fake halal meat” scandal that erupted on December 21 when NST broke a story revealing how a longstanding “cartel” of meat importers allegedly bribed government officials to ensure their shipments from non-halal-certified sources were allowed to enter Malaysia.

The government announced in early January that it would launch standard operating procedures for halal food products “soon”.

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