Halal food standards discussed in Lahore at UVAS

LAHORE

THE 6th meeting of the Pakistan Standard and Quality
Control Authority (PSQCA) Technical Committee on Halal Food Standards
was held at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) on
Monday.

According to a press release, Textile Testing
International Chief Executive Officer Hamid Lateef chaired the meeting
while UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz, PSQCA Director
General Abdul Ghafoor Soomro, religious scholars and technical experts
from both public and private sector attended it.

Hamid Lateef
said the PSQCA Technical Committee on Halal Food Standards was
finalising standards/rules for export and import of Halal food
products, especially meat, in the country.

The vice-chancellor
told the meeting that the UVAS was working to set up the Meat
Technology and Halal Meat Centre on its Ravi Campus, Pattoki, and had
submitted Rs 422 million projects with the Punjab government for the
purpose. He said the university had also developed linkages with the
Halal Products Research Institute of the University Putra, Malaysia,
and National Halal Products Lab, Birmingham, UK. He said the UVAS could
help the PSQCA through its experts locally and internationally from
linked institutions. He said the university would also help in
preparation, improvement and analysis of halal products’ standards
besides providing modern labs for tests.

He offered the PSQCA
that the university would help it in developing research on evaluation
of products through biotechnology as the UVAS had state-of-the-art
labs, including the Quality Operation Lab, for the food quality
according to the WTO standards.

The meeting discussed the draft
rules/standards for the halal food products. The technical committee
sought written input/suggestions from all the participants/members
within a week before finalisation of the standards for government
approval.