KOTA BHARU: More than 90 per cent of halal certificate holders throughout the country are complying with the guidelines issued by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM).
Jakim’s Halal Management Division senior assistant director, Rasyidah Che Wil said the compliance was driven by the responsible attitude of company or premises owners to ensure the continuity of their respective businesses.
She said that despite already having a halal certificate, JAKIM found them responsible to ensure the conditions and procedures are consistently adhered to.
“This is because if the monitoring finds that they fail to comply with the guidelines set, their certificates could be suspended or revoked based on the offences committed, whether minor, major or serious,“ she told reporters at the Malaysian Halal Certification Seminar, Malaysian Halal Management System (MHMS) 2020 for Kelantan industry, here, today,
Rasyidah said JAKIM takes the approach of holding a discussion with the halal certificate holder first if there is non-compliance with the stipulated guidelines.
“This is because we are aware that owners of halal certificates gain high confidence from customers in addition to having a wider opportunity to expand business abroad,“ she said.
Meanwhile, State Investment, Industry, Human Resources, Trade and Entrepreneurship Committee chairman, Datuk Md Anizam Ab Rahman said the Kelantan government has set the possession of a halal certificate as a mandatory condition for the renewal of premises licenses in the area under the Islamic City of Kota Bharu Municipal Council and it will be extended to other districts.
According to him, it is the state government’s effort to ensure that businesses run are halal and clean, thus encouraging more traders to obtain halal certification.
“As of June, there is a total of 411 halal certificate holders in Kelantan with 44 of them owned by non-Muslim traders,“ he said.
