The problem of fake and out-of-date halal certificates is unlikely to disappear

 In June, Freeza Meats of Northern Ireland pleaded guilty in court to 12 offences, including describing one product as halal when non-halal ingredients were used.

Halal labeling and certification is something that many Muslim consumers depend on. As Maria Jennings, director for Northern Ireland for the UK’s Food Standards Agency, said in response to the prosecution, “Consumers deserve to know that the food they buy is what it says it is.”

Unfortunately for the industry, it is not the first time such things have happened, and it won’t be the last. Dealing with fraudulent certification is an ongoing problem around the world.

The issue is relatively straightforward for the authorities in a particular country, which can monitor what is going on in their territory. The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (known by the local acronym MUIS), for example, says it undertakes regular inspections to look out for misleading halal claims on imported products. However, the situation is harder to manage for organizations when violations are happening farther afield. 

In the U.S., the Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) released two statements over the summer denying that it has issued certificates to two Chinese companies, Snowhite Chemical and Inter Chemical (Shijiazhuang). Last year it issued a similar denial over a product called D'Trim from Malaysia.

IFANCA has been hit by other problems in the past. In 2012, it discovered that a halal certificate it had issued to a client in China had been altered to include the name of a different company. The scam only came to light when a consumer in Malaysia inquired about the accuracy of the certificate.

Malaysia’s own Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) has also fallen victim to scams, with media reports in 2014 claiming that halal certificates were for sale for as little as 250 Ringgit ($58). And last year, the UK’s Halal Monitoring Committee said a Romanian company was using a counterfeit version of its logo on goods sold in France.

‘CAT-AND-MOUSE GAME’

The international nature of these examples highlights how difficult halal certification is to regulate. It is not always simply a case of companies using a halal label they never earned. A certificate needs to be renewed, but products sometimes use out-of-date certificates. The UK’s Halal Food Authority had to issue a number of warnings about certificates it had issued that remained in use after their expiration date.

A further problem arises when a certifying body itself loses approval. In 2014, for example, Jakim removed organizations from China, New Zealand, the UK and Vietnam from its list of approved certifying bodies.

One way to deal with the problem is to make it more transparent so that consumers can check the status of a product or supplier more easily. In Malaysia, Jakim runs a text message service that checks the status of a halal certificate holder. Simpler testing of halal products offers another way to tackle the problem, and quick and cheap consumer testing kits are now available.

The future is likely to continue to be a cat-and-mouse game between certifying bodies and those trying to skirt the regulations. The danger is that unless the regulators stay on top of the situation, trust in all certification may get eroded.

For now, though, demand for the genuine article appears to be buoyant in many corners of the world. In comments to an Australian parliamentary committee in August, Gary Dawson, CEO of the Australian Food & Grocery Council, said, “Australia exports around $13 billion worth of food into Islamic countries. These exports either require or benefit from halal certification ... So that certification system does underpin considerable economic activity, jobs and growth in the food sector.

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