Halal Certification

Gosh... what a busy day today! Met up with a customer this morning and then followed by my food biz sales call during lunch break. This time I met a food caterer cum factories canteen operator cum restaurants owner. A rather huge company with many branches.

Again, my openness to share with him my intention and plan of promoting this food product received another positive feedback. Once again, the man was kind enough to give me some biz penetration advise. Major concern when it comes to food biz is the Halal certification. To reach out to those food operators which cater to Muslim customers, it is necessary to have this certification, though none of the ingredients used are considered non-Halal.

What is "Halal" by the way? As a non-Muslim, I have never really paid attention to this matter. As long as our eating place together with our Muslim friends are Muslim-owned, then we are safe. But now that I'm in the food biz where Halal certification is a much-needed requirement in our country, it opened up my eyes to this whole aspect.

Take a look at the Halal defination I found in our Halal Industry Development Corporation website:

a) Neither is nor consist of or contains any part or matter of an animal that a Muslim is prohibited by Hukum Syarak to consume or that has not been slaughtered in accordance with Hukum Syarak.

b) Does not contain anything which is considered to be impure according to Hukum Syarak.

c) Has not been prepared, processed or manufactured using instrument that was not free from anything impure according to Hukum Syarak; and

d) has not in the course of preparation, processing or storage been in contact with or close proximity to any food that fails to satisfy paragraph (a) (b) or (c) or anything that is considered to be impure according to Hukum Syarak.

Still not clear? Me either! It helps to get a clearer idea if we start talking to those experienced biz owners, not minus-ing the need to talk the authority directly. So, you know where I'm heading to next!

So, what is the procedure to apply for one? The Penang State Government website provides a pretty clear guideline. But it is certainly better for first-timers like yours truly to drop by at the Penang State Department of Islam to find out more...

Who says operating food biz is easy?!