According to the commerce ministry’s draft guidelines, all meat and its products are to be exported as “halal certified” only if they are produced, processed, and packed under a valid certificate issued by a certification body accredited by a board of the Quality Council of India.
With the objective of reforming the halal certification process for export of meat and meat products from India, the draft guidelines on halal certification for export of meat and its products are proposed by the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT).
The guidelines said that the certification bodies would follow the procedure laid down as per the Indian conformity assessment scheme (i-CAS) for halal. It added that the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) would be designated as the overall monitoring agency for this purpose.
These draft guidelines are being circulated for public and industry comments and feedback. The views can be sent by February 17 for compilation and to prepare the final guidelines.
Actually, India does not have any mandatory halal certification system regulated by the government, as it does not have a national regulation for the certification. But certification is undertaken in India through private organisations that have been accredited or recognized by the importing countries.
“As the monitoring body for halal meat and meat products, APEDA shall have the mechanism to ensure that the certification and export of halal products have followed the i-CAS requirements,” said the guidelines.
The global halal food market is expected to be worth USD 1978 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach USD 3,907.7 billion by 2027.
It said that India’s large Muslim population represents huge opportunities for halal-based entrepreneurs. However, in India, the country’s halal industry is still in its infancy. There are no specific labelling requirements for halal food products imported into India.
In India, FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) certification can be seen on almost all the processed foods, but the government neither mandates halal certification nor does it provide a unifying regulatory law; hence, it is important to have halal regulations in place in India.
Halal certification is given by many private companies in India and marks the food or products as permissible. Halal India Pvt Ltd and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust are the two major halal certifying organisations in India.
The International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF) is an international network of accreditation bodies mandated to impose halal standards in their economies.
It added that all the major importing countries for halal products have their own regulations for importing halal products.
Countries across the globe, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, the UAE, Pakistan, and others, have their own halal standards; however, so far there have been no global halal standards.
According to the report, the rapid growth of the halal industry has resulted not only in halal technologies and innovations, but also in halal-related laws and regulations that are still not globally harmonised.
“In India, certification bodies that certify the halal trade are impanelled in the country of export, but halal monitoring is still a subject of discussion in the absence of authority, regulation, and monitoring of products under halal certification.”
Due to changed consumer perception, the halal market not only attracts the Muslim population but also non-Muslim consumers, it said.
“The issues and challenges in halal trade in India are lack of authoritative control, regulation, regular monitoring, enforcement, awareness of the industries, changed consumer perception, cost, market competitiveness, and supply chain management,” it added.
By outlining these problems, it is hoped that this guideline will give thought to discussing suggestions and identifying solutions for the problems that have been raised so that food business operators in India have solid platforms to implement the halal concept in their businesses.