KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) — Restaurant and food service operators are encouraged to partipate in the “Seminar on Guidelines for Halal Restaurants”, to be held nationwide, so that operators can obtain vital information on how to obtain halal certification from the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia or JAKIM.
The maiden seminar, scheduled to kick off in Putrajaya on Monday, is a collaborative initiative between Jakim, as the country’s halal certification body, IHI Alliance, in its role as a global halal authority, and KasehDia, a halal communication and consultancy company.
Founder and Managing Director of KasehDia Jumaatun Azmi said a series of nationwide seminars would be held in response to the growing interest among restaurant owners and food service operators who are unaware of the procedures and criteria required to obtain Jakim halal certification.
For the past five years, Jumaatun said KasehDia’s programmes aimed at creating general awareness about the benefits of the halal industry among the society and “I think we have achieved that”.
“Now, the problem in Malaysia lies in the technical component, the infrastructure is not strong, as such we have decided to go to the grassroots and focus on the technical aspects of the halal industry.
“As such, we have teamed up with Jakim to co-organise the halal seminar for restaurants throughout the country and this is under our halal guidelines programme,” she told Bernama in an interview.
She also said:”We have about 35,000 restaurants in this country. Our vision is if you don’t serve pork or alcohol in your products, we want them to get halal certification from Jakim.
“This is the halal food service guidelines, we want to train restaurants to upgrade themselves by adopting halal practices. We are doing a service to the food sector by using Islamic concepts to develop the industry,” she added.
Jumaatun said KasehDia has come up with a handbook on “Halal Operations Guide For Food Services” which can be used as reference by the industry and during the seminars.
KasehDia has also come up with a simple way to upgrade stalls, kopitiam outlets and regular restaurants.
The handbook is the world’s first and is a step-by-step guide benefiting anyone who is in the halal food service industry and will be introduced for the first time at the seminar.
Jumaatun said the seminar was also part of the 1halal 1Malaysia campaign, KasehDia was carrying out in collaboration with Jakim which would be conducted in every state and in the Klang Valley every month.
Those interested in the seminar can contact IHI Alliance at 03-23001344 or Kasehdia at 03-62031025.
— BERNAMA
