GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) has urged the relevant authorities to introduce the Halal Haram Act, to help ensure producers act more responsibly in labelling food products as Halal.
CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader said, currently, the burden of proving the Halal status of a product was on the consumers.
He said, for more than 30 years now, CAP had been calling for the Halal Haram Act.
"There were several meetings attended by CAP on the issue but to date there has not been much progress.
"The drafting of the laws and policy-making have been sidelined by the authorities for years," he said today.
Cases pertaining to the abuse of the Halal logo, according to Mohideen, are often reported and the worst of its kind surfaced in December 2020.
He said the nation was shocked when it was reported that there was a cartel that had allegedly been bribing customs officials to import and sell meat that was not slaughtered according to Islamic customs or sourced from unapproved stakeholders.
He said the cartel had imported frozen meat from China, Ukraine, Brazil, and Argentina and then repackaged it in the southern state of Johor.
He added that some of the imports included kangaroo and horse meat, which were then mixed with and sold as Halal beef, triggering outrage among Muslim consumers who said this was sacrilegious to their Islamic faith.
Mohideen said it was reported that the meat cartel had been bribing senior government officers from government agencies to bring non-certified meat into Malaysia and passing it off as Halal-certified products.
"It was learned that the cartel imported meat from non-Halal certified slaughterhouses in a number of countries and had been in operation for more than 40 years.
It was alleged that members of this cartel paid off officials of the Royal Malaysian Customs, the Veterinary Services Department (DVS), the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Service (MAQIS) and the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
"These reports were initially brushed aside by the minister in charge but strong public outrage led the police to arrest two company directors of a Johor-based company.
"The issue touched on two aspects, the first being the Halal status and the second on corruption, which raised larger questions on national security.
"Given the above situation, this is the right time for the government to introduce the Halal Haram Act, and at the same time, amend the existing Acts which touch on the Halal Haram issue," he added.
Mohideen said such an Act would create a demand for Malaysian Halal products, in line with the government's policy to make Malaysia one of the largest producers of Halal products in the world.
Meanwhile, Mohideen added that the existing laws should be amended to give better understanding on the use of the word Haram whether in food or products.
"For example, under the Food Act, the law on food labelling needs to be amended to ensure that Haram ingredients are mentioned on the label. If a substance can be obtained from several sources, then the producer should be required to state from which source it was obtained.
"This will help Muslim consumers to avoid any food and products that contain doubtful or Haram substance.
"The Act will give more bite to the authorities in implementing more stringent supervision and enforcement on the Halal supply chain," he stressed.
Besides the Act, CAP also called on the authorities to:
• Improve on the Halal certification process;
• Review its food procurement procedures following the expose on the meat cartel scandal;
• Review the system for all enforcement agencies and livestock development; and
• Set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to address the meat cartel scandal. All those involved in deceiving the people, including government servants and company directors, should be prosecuted and punished severely.