The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) announced its plans to address the smuggling of non-certified meat into the country.
Abdul Aziz Jusoh, Jakim Deputy Director-General (Operations) stated one part of the action plan would be a discussion with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), Department of Malaysian Quarantine Inspection Services (Maqis) and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Customs) on January 5, 2021.
He said the focus of the discussion would be to coordinate actions and take the necessary measures to address the issue, besides having an Integrated Action Plan for meat products and imports.
Additionally, there will also be a roundtable discussion between importers and distributors of meat and meat products with KPDNHEP, Maqis, and the Customs on January 11, 2021.
Furthermore, the action plan would discuss issues or problems faced by importers and distributors as well as explain the need to comply with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for import and distribution.
“Jakim also encourages the application of the Malaysian Halal Certification (SPHM) through the Logistics (Warehousing) scheme, requiring certificate holders to obtain meat supplies from importers or distributors who have been certified halal under the logistics (warehousing) scheme,“ he said.
Through the action plan, Jakim would also promote the list of approved foreign halal certification bodies and their logos.
Notably, by far, a total of 84 halal certification bodies in 46 countries have been recognised by Jakim.
“With this, consumers can identify the halal logos recognised by Jakim on the packaging labels of imported products sold in the market and importers can easily identify the products they want to import into Malaysia, to avoid doubt and losses,“ he highlighted.
Moreover, he said visits to slaughterhouses and imported meat warehouses would be intensified to ensure issues such as non-certified meat did not arise.
“The latest SOP with some improvements will be finalised in January,“ he said, adding that he hoped the import and local meat industry would remain compliant with the SOP.
