Halal- is the key to the quality of food products!

Halal- is the key to the quality of food products!

Food safety is an essential component of the nation's health and well-being. Food safety requirements are reflected in the technical regulations of the Eurasian economic Union.
Quality issues are regulated by standards that are themselves voluntary. Halal, being more an indicator of quality than safety, is a voluntary sphere in Kazakhstan and is currently not regulated under the national system of technical regulation.
Halal is everything that is allowed and permissible in Islam. This concept is most often used to refer to properly prepared and permitted food for Muslims.
To the category of prohibited (Haram) meat products include:
* dead meat, which includes all animals that died of natural causes, or those that were killed by strangulation or other animals that died as a result of an accident, or were not killed according to Muslim, Christian, or Jewish traditions;
* blood that is spilled spontaneously when the main cervical arteries of the animal are cut. What remains in the body of an animal slaughtered in accordance with Islamic tradition is not forbidden;
• pork. All pig components (meat, bones, skin, hair) cannot be used in the production of Halal products»
* meat of predatory animals (wolf, lion, tiger, etc.) and birds (Falcon, hawk, eagle, etc.);
* meat of dogs, donkeys, and mules.
These prohibitions concerning basic raw materials also apply to auxiliary raw materials and materials, such as additives, fillers, spices, natural sausage casings, gelatin thickeners, etc.
In addition, Muslims are not allowed to eat foods containing alcohol, poisonous or narcotic substances.
Halal is a way of life for more than 1.6 billion Muslims living in 148 countries.
To create a unified Halal system of standardization and certification, the Islamic community created the Institute of standards and Metrology of Islamic countries SMIIC on the basis of the Organization of Islamic cooperation OIC.
On November 4-5, 2018, in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), during the 17th meeting of the Board of Directors and the 13th meeting of the General Assembly of the Institute of standards and Metrology of Islamic countries, SMIIC decided to join Kazakhstan as full members of SMIIC represented by KTRM.
Joining SMIIC provides an opportunity to apply and adopt SMIIC standards as national standards in Kazakhstan.
Today there are 4 SMIIC standards in the field of Halal:
* OIC / SMIIC 1: 2011-General recommendations for Halal food;
* OIC / SMIIC 2: 2011-Guide for Halal certification bodies;
* OIC / SMIIC 3: 2011 - guidelines for the Halal Accreditation body for the accreditation of Halal certification bodies;
* OIC / SMIIC 4: 2018-Halal cosmetics-General requirements.
On April 14-17, 2019, Kazakh experts took part in the SMIIC TC Week, during which working meetings were held with representatives of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. At the meetings, foreign experts presented information about Halal standardization and certification systems in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The information obtained was used in the preparation of country reviews of the technical regulation systems of the UAE and the Persian Gulf countries, carried out by the National standardization body of Kazakhstan in the framework of servicing export-oriented enterprises.
In addition, on July 30, 2019 in Nur-Sultan, within the framework of the meeting on the development of the Halal industry in the CIS region, a working meeting was held with the General Secretary of SMIIC I. Ovut, where the issues of applying SMIIC standards in Kazakhstan were discussed.
Within the framework of SMIIC, Muslim countries adhere to the position that the establishment of requirements for Halal products and the conduct of conformity assessment of Halal products is carried out only by Islamic countries.
At the same time, some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, which agree to allow non-Muslim countries to certify Halal products.
For this purpose, the international Halal accreditation forum IHAF has been established. any interested organizations with relevant experts, including those from non-Muslim countries, can become full members.
Kazakhstan currently participates in SMIIC and IHAF, which makes it possible to implement Both Halal standardization and certification systems in Kazakhstan.
Today, the Halal quality infrastructure differs in its own way in each country. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf States, and Iran, Halal certification is mandatory, as well as in these countries, inspection of slaughterhouses is provided, while in Turkey, Malaysia, and many other countries, Halal requirements are voluntary.
The main dilemma of all countries implementing the Halal product certification system is the designation of a Halal accreditation body – a religious body (clergy) or a national accreditation body (national system of technical regulation).
For example, in Turkey, following long discussions and disputes, a separate Halal accreditation body was established in 2019.
In Kazakhstan, work is underway to create a national system of standardization and certification of Halal.
Until now, there were 2 national standards in the Republic of Kazakhstan: ST RK 1353-2005 "cooked Sausages "Halal", ST RK 1632-2007 "Tourist and excursion service of the hotel "Halal " Classification".
Certification of Halal products was carried out by private certification bodies on a voluntary basis, which were not accredited in the national accreditation system. Among them – "Halal Damu" LLP on the basis of the Spiritual administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan (DUMK).
Since 2017, the technical Committee 101 for standardization "Halal" (TC 101) has been functioning on the basis of the Kazakh National Agrarian University in Almaty.
In 2019 the Plan of state standardization developed 5 national standards harmonized with international standards SMIIC (OIC/SMIIC 1:2011, OIC/SMIIC 2:2011) and national standard Malaysia (MS 1500:2009):
1) ST RK " General requirements for Halal products»;
2) ST RK " requirements for the production process of Halal products. Slaughtering and processing»;
3) ST RK " Halal catering Services»;
4) ST RK " Technical requirements and marking procedure for Halal products»;
5) ST RK "Procedure for confirming compliance of production and Halal products".
These standards contain requirements for Halal products, their production process, the national Halal product conformity mark, and the procedure for certification of Halal products. Their implementation and application will create a national certification system for Halal products in Kazakhstan.
In particular, Halal certification will be carried out on a voluntary basis, within the framework of the national conformity assessment system, by certification bodies accredited by the national accreditation body of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

 

Bolat Abaiyly,
head of the international cooperation Department of the TBT / SPS Information center, Kazinst RSE»