April 5, 2010

New Zealand plans new halal certification structure

The New Zealand government has issued a new framework for halal certification, after a series of disagreements in Malaysian and Indonesian meat markets.

According to reports, New Zealand was asking Islamic countries to tell it what they wanted certified, and was working to ensure certifiers worked to those requirements.

New Zealand is stepping into an arena it has previously tried to avoid, the certification of New Zealand exports as halal, in terms of Islamic religious rules.

Previously, government regulators have kept halal certification at arms length, relying on two commercial agencies which have been handling most of the certification of meat and milk products.

However, the problems in South East Asia, particularly with the world's most populous Islamic country, Indonesia, last year led the government to announce that organisations which certify halal meat for export will be subject to government oversight to standardise halal certification and improve assurances to trading partners.

Transitional cover for halal organisations is available up to October 1, and bodies have up to May 1 to apply to be listed as an approved halal organisation.