Halal Advocacy and the Supervisor Muslimslaughter.

Asalamu waleikum,

By: Nelly Nita N. Dillera
With reports from: Ardeshir U. Bansuan

Series of Halal Advocacy Seminars that were conducted in the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Kidapawan and Tacurong City since July this year. The Seminars centered on Halal Certification, Retail Merchandising and Consumer Advocacy.

For Halal Certification, the participants were producers and processors who are encouraged to have their products be accredited by Halal Certifying bodies for certification.

The process though is stringent as the inspection starts from the inputs to the raw materials, the raw material itself and the production procedure or what is termed as from farm to plate scheme. Interested producers shall be guided through by the certifying bodies.

Halal certification helps gain trust and confidence and even provide export opportunities since the procedure for producing Halal products is consistent with HACCP, GMP and other quality assurance standards.

Halal certified food products shall have a ready market locally. A seminar on Halal Merchandising was also conducted to orient the retailers on the significance of merchandising particularly creating a Halal corner that would cater to the needs of the Halal consumers.

The Business Opportunities of Halal shall be also be a part of the discussion. Region 12 after all is populated with Muslims, about 6 to 8 Million Muslim consumers in the domestic market and a huge overseas market of 1.5 to 1.8 Billion Muslim consumers spread in over 100 countries. Global Halal trade is estimated at US$200B to US$350 billion annually.

To ensure that Halal will be continuously advocated and promoted, DTI organized Consumer Organizations for this purpose. There was one organized in General Santos City and one in Koronadal City.

There is a need to correct misconception that Halal certification is needed for meat and poultry only. Halal refers to anything permissible in Islam which includes behavior, speech, dress, conduct, manner and dietary laws. In short, it affects all aspects of Muslim life.

At present, businesses that need certification range from manufacturing, food processing, abattoirs and even the service industry.

Initiatives on the promotion of Halal were conducted in collaboration with Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, DTI National Coordinator on Halal Director Sitti Amina M. Jain, DTI ARMM Secretary Ishak V. Mastura and Halal Technical Committee from DOST, DA, DA-BAFPS, DOT, OMA and Islamic Religious Scholars.

A series of focused group discussion was conducted to draft the Philippine National Standard (PNS) on Halal Food. BETP also conducted Halal products retail merchandising in different regions in the Philippines. Finally on March 13, 2008, 1st Philippine General Guidelines on Halal Food was launched.