KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) — The government said the move to give
the responsibility of issuing the Malaysian Halal certificate to the
Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) was important as it was
intended to expand the adoption of the certificate to other countries
such as Argentina and Brazil.
Deputy Finance Minister I, Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said this was
important as both the countries were among the best quality producers
of beef in the world market.
“The transfer of the halal certification duty from Jabatan Kemajuan
Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) to HDC was intended to help in the promotion,
marketing and holding of exhibitions on halal products and services at
the international market,” he said.
“The government cannot look at the strength of the halal certificate in
the context of the country alone. It can be brought outside the
country,” he said.
“For an example, we know that Argentina and Brazil are among the best
producers of meat in the world but the halal certificates issued by
these countries are said not to be acknowledged by some countries.
“The government sees this as important for getting to expand the use of
the Malaysian Halal certificate,” he said at the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday.
To avoid any confusion, the government decided that only one body should monitor the development of the halal industry, he said.
“This is an issue of rationalisation as we are now looking into
specialisation as when placed under HDC, the certification will be more
efficient as HDC is an agency of economy,” he said.
The promotion of Halal Malaysia involves a difficult ISO system and HDC is capable of carrying it out, he said.
HDC, established on Sept 18, 2006 as a private company fully owned by
the Ministry of Finance, was recently given the responsibility of
issuing the Malaysian Halal certificate, taking over the function from
Jakim.
