Firm fined for repacking rice without halal certificate
SIBU: A company here was yesterday fined RM15,000 by the Sessions Court after it pleaded guilty to repacking 10.18 MT of rice at their premises without halal certificate from Sarawak Islamic Religious Department (Jais)/ Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Sibu branch chief Kasim Mana told a press conference yesterday that the company was caught committing the offence last October.
“The company contravened Section 7 (1) of Trade Descriptions ( Certification And Marking Of Halal) Order 2011, an offence under Section 8 (b) of the same Order. The company pleaded guilty and was fined RM15,000 for the offence,” he said.
On a different matter, Kasim said following the announcement by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, their officers were all out to check on paint brushes made from pig bristles and dog hairs in the market.
He reminded traders to do proper labelling of such products and have them segregated from others.
“There is no need for them to label ‘ halal’ or ‘non-halal’. What we want is for them to do proper labelling to indicate if the paint brushes were made from bristles of pigs or hair of dogs.
“It is imperative that they segregate these products from the rest to avoid confusion,” he said.
He said action would be taken if traders failed to label or segregate those brushes made from bristles of pigs or hair of dogs from others.
He added that action can be taken under Section 8 (a) of Trade Descriptions ( Certification And Marking Of Halal) Order 2011, which stipulated that if such person is not a corporate body, a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or jail not more than three years’ jail or both could be meted out upon conviction.
For second and subsequent offences, the person can be fined up to RM250,000 or jailed not more than five years or both, Kasim said.
Corporations can be fined up to RM200,000 for such offence, whereas up to RM500,000 for second and subsequent offences, upon conviction.