Brunei: Signing Of Three MoUs To Further Boost Brunei Halal Certification

Brunei HalalBandar Seri Begawan – The credibility and integrity of Brunei Darussalam’s Halal brand is set for a boost in the eyes of the global Halal industry following the signing of MoUs between three well-known institutions with the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam on the Academic Exchange and Research collaboration.

This was noted by Awang Sabri Md Taha, the head of Halal Industry Innovation Centre under Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) in an interview after the seminar “Research and Laboratory Detection toward Halal Analysis Application”, which was held in conjunction with the signing of MoUs.

The MoU between the Florida State University of USA and the Government of His Majesty was to establish cooperation on detecting immunochemcial protein blood hidden in food as well as develop approach to analyse food.

The signing between the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan and the Government of His Majesty will establish cooperation on the capability in food and ingredients testing as well as carry out research relating to biodiversity including testing on material of novel bio-functional.

Meanwhile, the MoU with Japan Food research laboratories, Japan, will establish cooperation in analysing food and beverages. Awang Sabri Md Taha said, “Through the collaboration, we can help boost the credibility and integrity of our Brunei Halal certification. Working with the three institutions, we can further detect Halalness as well as food safety and the quality of food and beverages produced in Brunei Darussalam. We are also working closely with Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA).”

Three papers were presented at the seminar namely “Detection of Alcohol, Animal Fat, Plant Oil and Gelatin” by Dr Eiichi Tamiya, Professor of Nonobio Engineering, Osaka University, Japan. Followed by a presentation on “Quality Control in Analytical Laboratories” by Masatoshi Watai, Director Saito (Osaka Laboratory) and Executive Director, the Japan Food Research Laboratories, and “Detection of Blood and Porcine Materials” by Dr Yun-Hwa Peggy Hsieh, Professor of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Science, Florida State University, United State of America.

The seminar touched on the use of blood and porcine materials in a variety of food and demonstrated the effectiveness of both DNA based PCR method and monoclonal antibodies (Protein) based immunoassay method to be used for detecting the Halalness of food. In addition, the importance and some fundamentals on the quality control in laboratory analysis were also presented.

The main objective of the seminar was to ‘provide the participants with current updates on laboratory analysis to detect various non-Halal ingredients and to network.

A total of 50 participants attended the seminar which included officers from MIPR, MoRA, Ministry of Health and State Mufti Office as well as Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Wasan Vocational School.

Also present at the seminar were Dayang Hajah Normah Suria Hayati binti Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama (Dr) Haji Awang Mohd Jamil Al-Sufri, Permanent Secretary at the MIPR, and Awang Md Reza bin Dato Paduka Hj Md Yunos, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the MIPR, as well as other officials.
— Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin