HDC Receives 380 Applications For Halal Certification

PETALING JAYA, June 24
(Bernama) — Halal Industry Development Corp (HDC) has received about
380 applications for domestic halal certification since taking over the
role as the issuer of halal certificates from Department of Islamic
Development, Malaysia (Jakim) last April.

Its chief executive, Datuk Jamil Bidin, said to-date 85 percent of
the applications were received through HDC’s portal, the e-Halal.

“More than 90 percent of the applications were received from the
small and medium enterprise (SME) players, a dominant force in the
local halal industry,” he told reporters after briefing state Islamic
affairs departments on the role of HDC here today.

Jamil said less than 20 percent of local SME players had
successfully penetrated the international market such as the US and
Europe.

“Most of our players failed to do so as they do not have the
international quality standard certification such as the Good
Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Points (HACCP),” he said.

He said the HDC would collaborate with the Small and Medium
Industries Development Corp to help the SMEs improve their quality to
compete globally,” he said.

Jamil said the winner of the Malaysian Halal Champions programme
would get HDC’s help to obtain the GMP and HACCP certification as well
to export their products globally.

He said besides the lack of quality, poor branding would also affect the ability of SMEs to compete internationally.

The programme, which was started last year, has named Prima Agri-Product Sdn Bhd the champion for the year.