Halal certification service 3

alal literally means “permissible” in Arabic and refers to food items that are permissible to consume under Sharia law, whereas haram (lit. “unlawful”) refers to any substance not permitted to consume. According to the Australian Food and Grocery Council, halal foods must be “free from any substance taken or extracted from a haram animal or ingredient (e.g. pigs, dogs, carnivorous animals, animals not slaughtered in compliance with Islamic rites); [be] made, processed, manufactured and/or stored by using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that has been cleaned according to Islamic law (e.g. not cleaned with alcohol); and [be] free from contact with, or being close to, a haram substance during preparation, manufacture, processing and storage (e.g. blood, alcohol, poisonous and intoxicating plants and insects such as worms [sic] and cockroaches).”

The Australian Government does not have a formal role in labeling halal food for domestic consumption.

Halal goods serve as part of the trade links between Australia and several Muslim countries, particularly Middle Eastern ones, although many non Muslim countries also form significant part of Halal products’ consumer base. Halal meat and meat product exports to the Middle East and Southeast Asia have greatly increased from the 1970s onwards. This expansion was due in part to efforts of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.^: 151 Certification, which involves both costs and restrictions, is necessary to access this large export market. The federal Department of Agriculture approves the certification of halal food for export to Islamic count

Background

In 1981, a meat substitution scandal where substitution of horse and kangaroo meat for beef in consignments for overseas exports threatened the reputation of the Australian meat export industry. The next year, a Royal Commission into the meat industry investigated mislabelling of meat products, which included forged halal certificates. The Royal Commission said that halal certification monopolies should be avoided and that fees charged should “not be seen as a way of raising revenue for other Muslim purposes unconnected with the meat industry.”

Australian certification for halal meat exports

In Australia specified halal accreditation agencies are permitted to certify as halal the exports of red meat and red meat products to Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Approaches have been made to the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) by various Australian agencies to establish accreditation for particular Australian certification arrangements to secure the export trade for halal-certified meat products. For approval, Indonesia specifies that there be both a scientist and an expert in Islamic law working within the Australian organisation seeking halal accreditation. During the lobbying process by Australia for Indonesian halal accreditation, corruption has been alleged and denied.

In assessing halal meat exports to the US, an investigation by Halal Advocates of America covered “over ten” slaughterhouses in Australia. They determined that there are differences in the, “degree of reliability and trustworthiness” of Australian halal certifying bodies, that pre-stunning is being used and that none of the slaughterers had “deviated beliefs or belonged to one of the deviated sects”. The investigators said they were satisfied with the certification processes of ICCV and SICHMA and said there was great potential in working with these two organisations in the future