By Hj Minor Absah
Bandar Seri
Begawan – His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of
Brunei Darussalam has consented for the enforcement of the Halal
Certificate and Label Order 2005 starting August 1, 2008.
This was announced yesterday by Hj
Kassim bin Hj Mohamed, Acting Assistant Director of Syariah
Affairs, Halal Food Control Section of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs
The enforcement of the Order
will be implemented in stages and applications will be open for
local halal food producers who wish to use the Brunei Halal logo
during the Brunei 3rd International Halal Expo scheduled for
August 14, 2008. So far 12 companies have already applied for
the use of the logo.
Shortly after the Expo,
applications will be open for entrepreneurs wishing to use the
Halal logo on their products at a fee of B$50 a permit for each
product.
Applicants who wish to use the
logo can obtain their application forms at the Halal Food
Control Section during office hours. A completed form must be
returned together with a list of products that is applied for
and also a list of ingredients used in the process.
Hj Kassim stated that the
Inspection Officers will conduct an inspection on production
premises to ensure that the ingredients used are halal and that the
preparation area or machines are used to process halal products
only, before issuing a Halal permit. If needed, these inspection
personnel will ask for laboratory testing of products considered
suspicious.
Besides this, the inspecting
officers will also hold oral and written test for Halal Food
Supervisors of any company as required in the order.
In the second stage, applications
will be opened for food outlets or restaurants in the country
wishing to get the Halal certification at their premises. This will
hopefully start by December this year.
The owners of the food outlet and
restaurants will be able to obtain applications in December. They
must abide by the requirements of the Halal Certificate and Label
Order or else their applications will not be considered.
Among the requirements include
having at least two Halal Food Supervisors at each premises and
strictly only Halal food can be sold or brought into the said
premises. —
Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin