DOST Halal laboratory receives excellence award from Malaysia
DAVAO CITY—A Malaysian Halal consulting and training agency has bestowed an excellence award to the Halal Verification Laboratory (HVL) of the Department of Science and Technology Region 11 (DOST 11).
The DOST said it received the “Excellence Award for Halal and Hygiene Compliance” from the Malaysia Halal Consultation and Training Agency after the DOST laboratory underwent the Halal compliance audit on July 8.
It said the Malaysian audit unit gave the DOST 11 HVL an overall rating of 95 percent.
The audit was conducted by Dr. Abdul Rafek Saleh, International Halal Integrity Alliance (IHIA) executive director and Malaysian Halal and Consultation Training (MHCT) principal Halal consultant, with Dr. Jane Tranquilan, the Halal lead auditor.
Dr. Rafek Saleh congratulated the DOST 11 and the DOST Calabarzon “for their commitment to follow highquality hygiene practices and ensuring appropriate, efficient, and effective management of the Halal laboratory.”
The DOST 11 said its HVL “tests food and non-food products to ensure that it does not contain Muslim-prohibited contents through a variety of services such as ethanol analysis, which tests the presence of ethanol in food and beverages, gelatin analysis which tests the presence of pork in gelatin products, and porcine DNA detection by RT-PCR which determines the presence of pork DNA in non-gelatin food products.”
Ms. Alma Lamparas, DOST 11 Halal Laboratory technical manager, said the award “is a reflection of their commitment to carry out world-class Halal services to the Davao region and the rest of the country.”
“We are grateful for this recognition as it is a collaborative work of our laboratory officers. We are deeply committed in sustaining and improving our services through consistent adherence to world-class standards so we can serve our customers better,” she said.
In July this year, food groups and organizations were called upon by the DOST to adopt the Halal Assurance System (HAS), “In order to promote halal awareness and boost the country’s Philippine Halal industry.”