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Dubai: The Emirates Authority for Standardization and
Metrology (Esma) kicked off work on unifying standards for halal
foods and cosmetics.
The standardization will be applied in 57 Islamic countries within
the next three years, Gulf News reported quoting a senior
government official.
After the endorsement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),
the halal standards will be applied to food sold to Muslims living
in non-Muslim countries, said Mohammad Saleh Badri,
director-general of Esma.
OIC is the second largest
inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and it
comprises all 57 Islamic countries.
These new standards would
result in reducing the time and cost of halal certification by 30
to 50 per cent, he said on the sidelines of the Halal Food Middle
East exhibition in Sharjah yesterday.
“The industry will love this
idea because now they are showing everyone how they do their halal
procedures, that itself is a cost. If there’s one certified
scheme, it will be accepted everywhere", he said.
Esma’s unified standards will be made mandatory and any violations
will result in revoking the halal certification, Badri said.
Developing a global halal standardisation system has long been
debated among Islamic countries and called for by the industry but
there has been little consensus on how to do it.
Currently,
different countries have their own requirements and systems of
standardisation, certification and compliance. Esma aims to
“harmonize” these standards, Badri said.
Esma is now working on a
scheme on how to certify halal products and unifying the procedure
for certification with one set of standards.
It will establish
committees, including key representatives from major halal product
importing and exporting countries, and propose specific standards.
If approved, then it will develop a unified process for
certification.
The UAE was appointed Chair of the technical committee for Halal
food and cosmetics standards set up by the OIC during a recent
meeting in Turkey.
The Emirates Authority for Standardization and
Metrology (Esma) is planning to issue guidelines for halal
certification bodies in the UAE within the next six months, said
Mohammad Saleh Badri, director-general of Esma.
“It will be
compulsory for those who want to be a halal certification body,”
he said.
After the guidelines are issued, the certification bodies
will be monitored and, if found compliant with standards,
accredited.
Esma is also working on producing a unified stamp or
mark for halal products entering the UAE that can also be
introduced to the GCC, Badri said.
“It’s a mark that will show that the
product has gone through a standard certification process,” he
said.
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