TAKE A LEAF FROM M'SIA ON HALAL FOOD STANDARDS, SAYS EXPERT

From Muin Abdul Majid

ABU DHABI, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other
Middle East countries should emulate Malaysia in regulating halal food
production to prevent governments and consumers from being defrauded, said an
industry expert.

Midamar Corporation director Jalel Aossey said countries like Malaysia
and Brunei had well established regulatory bodies to verify products were
halal-compliant and that protection levels were in place in countries like
the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

"There's growing demand for a universal standard across all halal
products,"
said the representative of one of North America's largest suppliers of high
quality halal meat.

According to Aossey, regional governments needed help from the industry to
combat fraudulent halal food certification practices and build consumer
trust.

"Close cooperation between governments and active certifiers in the region
can help block non-halal food items from reaching supermarket shelves as halal
products," he said at the Halal World Expo Forum which runs alongside the Halal
World Expo 2008 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre here.

He said people had to realise that it was not impossible and not too costly
to put the correct halal standards in place.

"Inspection teams can be sent to the various countries where food is being
produced to allow it to be inspected, at that country's cost.

"This is nothing when you consider the huge dollar volume of food products
exported to the UAE and other Gulf countries. Malaysia has set the stage for
the rest of the world to follow," added Aossey.

According to him, of the American products that were found on supermarket
shelves in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf region, about 95 percent would be
the same products found in the United States' supermarkets.

"But some how, on the way from the US to the Middle East, these products
magically become halal. Consumers are no doubt becoming more aware of this
reality and want to know what is being done to protect their religious
beliefs," he said.

Aossey asserted that there was no regulation of halal certification in the
US as anybody could get hold of a good printer and turn out a certificate that
looked genuine.

"Corrupt certifiers get a taste for the money generated producing "paper
halal certificates' for companies without actually performing any work. It's
all too easy for them to operate in an unregulated industry," he said.

He said, however, credible certifiers would send slaughter teams and
auditors to production plants to check that processes were fully
halal-compliant.

Aossey said exporters rather than manufacturers were more likely to
approach corrupt certifiers, acquire halal certification, put Arabic labels on
the product and ship it to the Middle East.

"The manufacturer may not have a clue where the product ends up or that
their products are being misrepresented as halal," he added.

Organised by IIR Middle East, the Middle East's leading showcase for the
US$2.1 trillion global halal industry concludes Thursday.
-- BERNAMA