Govt streamlines halal certification process for meat products

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), has recently issued a notification on streamlining of the Halal Certification process for meat and meat products. According to the notification, meat and meat products can be exported as “Halal certified”, only if they are produced, processed and/or packaged in a facility with a valid certification under the “India Conformity Assessment Scheme (I-CAS) — Halal” of the Quality Council of India (QCI), issued by a Certification Body duly accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) following the guidelines issued or amended from time to time. For export consignment(s) to countries that have Halal regulations, the producer/supplier/ exporter must also comply with the importing country's requirements/regulations, where applicable, and must hold valid certificates issued by Halal certification bodies approved under the importing country's national halal system. In such cases, the Halal certification under I-CAS Halal is initially voluntary on the part of the producer/supplier/exporter. All existing Halal Certification Bodies have six months time from the date of issue (April 6) of this notification to seek accreditation from NABCB for I-CAS Halal. Similarly, all existing Export Units, including those already registered with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) as members, have six months from the date of this notification's issuance, to register themselves at the dedicated and integrated online portal for meat exports developed by APEDA.