SEDC in talks with Jais on halal certification for course participants

KUCHING: Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) is in talks with Sarawak Islamic Religious Department ( Jais) to come up with a halal certification process for participants of its entrepreneurial development programmes, particularly in food production.

SEDC general manager Abdul Hadi Abdul Kadir said with the certification, SEDC would be able to promote the products in their various outlets and hotels.

“Many of the participants face challenges as getting certified is not an easy process. The individual’s outfit is quite small and systems may not be in place.

“Our initiative now is to see how we can bring them up to the standard for halal certification so that we can promote their products through our various outlets and hotels. We have discussed with Jais and we are making some progress,” he told reporters after the official launching of the ‘Juh! Halal 2019’ seminar by Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small, Medium Enterprise Development Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais yesterday.

Abdul Hadi explained that hotels that have been certified halal have kitchens that cannot accept products or ingredients that have not been certified, even if they are fundamentally halal.

“Because of such conditions for halal kitchens, we need to help the entrepreneurs get the certification. Then they will be able to reach a wider market. Maybe we can even promote to other hotels in the state or the rest of Malaysia.

“There are many products that are made by Malays, or the Ibans or Bidayuhs that we know are halal but they don’t have the certification or endorsement yet,” he noted.

Abdul Hadi said the certification would be issued by Jais while SEDC would work as the promoter.

“The guidelines will be provided by Jais. We will try out with a few individuals in a pilot project and after that we will extend it to all other participants throughout the state.

“This is the way forward for our entrepreneurs, which will also gear them for the export market. As we know, the halal market in the world is huge. It would be a pity that our most unique and wellloved products are not certified halal and therefore are not able to reach the wider market,” he said.

On when the certification process would roll out, Abdul Hadi said they hoped to be able to achieve something within this year.

“Normally it does not take long for kitchen certification, as long as we can spell out all the ingredients used and so on,” he said.