Bandar Seri Begawan – Restaurant owners have been urged to apply for
the Halal certificate to give Muslim customers more confidence to dine
at their restaurants, according to a religious affairs official.
Halal Food Control Division (HFCD) Education Officer at the Ministry
of Religious Affairs, Siti Norain Mohamad, said that the Brunei Islamic
Religious Council has raised concerns regarding lack of local
restaurants bearing the Halal logo.
Currently there is only one restaurant which has been accredited
with the Halal certificate while six others are still in the auditing
process conducted by the council.
She related that they encounter problems while processing
applications from restaurant owners which cause a delay. Siti Norain
mentioned that this was due to information required in the applications
forms were often incomplete.
She said the cost of a Halal certificate is $30 which will be issued
by Ministry of Religious Affairs and only require to be renewed upon
expiry.
With the enforcement of the Halal Label Certificate and Halal Label
Order 2005 in August last year, restaurant owners and food outlets must
obtain their halal certificates for their respective establishments.
The Royal Brunei Catering (RBC) is the only restaurant which has
been accredited with the Halal certificate after completing the
requirements set by the council.
The restaurant has successfully undergone several inspections on all
of their ingredients and products, before it officially certified as a
Halal outlet by the council on July, 2009.
According to previous reports, a total of 30 Halal products from RBC
Express Fast Food went through Halal products audit which were
conducted by Halal Audit representatives from Religious Office, Majlis
Mufti and the Department of Agriculture.
— Courtesy of The Brunei Times
