Halal certification is an opportunity to shine in major markets

FOOD certification schemes were once again in the spotlight last week when two major multinational food producers announced that they would no longer be having their products certified as halal.

Kellogg’s stressed that this was a commercial decision, not the result of any public pressure or backlash.

Sanitarium advised that it was withdrawing from both halal and kosher certification schemes.

Take a wander down any supermarket isle and you will find a range of products featuring official-looking paidfor ticks of approval. These

Jan Davis

stamps let us know whether something is organic, GMOfree, Australian owned or grown, cage-free, gluten-free or kosher — and most don’t raise an eyebrow.

So why do halal certification schemes create so much controversy?

Like some other religions, Islam has rules about which foods can be consumed by Muslims. These are called “halal’’, an Arabic word that means permitted or lawful. It is the Muslim equivalent of kosher food for those of Jewish faith.

Hundreds of well-known food products found in Australian supermarkets have halal certification, including household name brands. Most halal-certified products are the same as the non-halal certified version.

Vegemite, for example, is certified halal because it is made on a dedicated production line where it doesn’t come into contact with any animal-derived ingredients, and with yeast processed to ensure it is alcohol free.

Halal certification also benefits the food industry by increasing trade exports, particularly to the Middle East and South-East Asia. The global value of halal-certified food in 2015 was more than $US1.1 trillion; and this is expected to increase to $US1.6 trillion by 2018.

Australian food exports into Islamic societies were valued at $13 billion a year in 2015. Those exports underpin jobs and growth — often in regional Australia.

It is important to understand that these figures are the value of the entire market. Industry sources say that, on average, halal certification costs less than 2 per cent of the total production cost.

In 2015, a senate inquiry was charged with looking at food labelling and a range of third-party certification schemes, including halal, organic, kosher and genetically modified products.

The inquiry also investigated whether current schemes provide enough information for Australian consumers to make informed purchasing decisions, the importance of food certification schemes in relation to export market access, and the extent and adequacy of information available to the public about certifiers, including certification processes, fees and financial records.

The inquiry took more than six months and received more than 1400 submissions. The final report found that underregulation of certification schemes generally compromised the integrity of the system and allowed “the proliferation of questionable conduct by certifiers of questionable expertise and

intent”. Examples included products such as water certified as GMO-free or milk as permeate-free when those things would never have been an issue. It recommended a more robust regulatory environment — a recommendation that has yet to be acted on.

The inquiry also found that many of the submissions confused the term “halal” with the process of halal certification. Certification does not require a religious ritual, nor does it in itself make food any more or any less halal. Certification is “purely a commercial exchange”. Products are either halal or they are not — certification merely verifies the fact.

Despite significant public concern and after intense scrutiny, the inquiry found no evidence the certifiers were financially exploiting the schemes or funding organisations that had links to criminal activity.

Both the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and the Australian Crime Commission said they could find no direct link between halal certification and terrorism.

Australian certifying companies are commercial operations, and no evidence has been found of any criminal links in any schemes.

Achieving any form of food certification is purely a business decision. Accreditation offers companies opportunities to sell their products into a range of large and often lucrative markets, without compromising basic standards.

Certification schemes are really just another way of providing consumers with more information about how their food is produced and to allow them to make more informed decisions.

Consumers then make their own decisions about the value of any certification.

If people are honestly concerned about halal labelling, then they should also be opposing certification systems such as kosher, organic, free-range, cage-free, sow stall-free, gluten-free, the heart tick ... and so on.

These concerns need to be put to rest for once and for all, and Australian food producing companies should be free to get on with their legitimate business, creating jobs across the country.