[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: The government agency in charge of halal certification said today that the issue of meat smuggling and the application of incorrectly declared items was outside its jurisdiction and under the purview of other agencies.
This was after the news that a group of meat importers were mixing different meats and passing them off as halal meat on the open market.
The senior director of the research division of the Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia (Jakim), Sirajuddin Suhaimee, said that his duty was to verify if the slaughterhouses comply with the rules of sharia from the moment the animals were slaughtered to packaging. , both locally and abroad.
He said the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Maqis) and the Ministry of National Commerce and Consumer Affairs were ultimately in charge of verifying the misstatement of items brought into the country.
Sirajuddin said that Jakim had kept silent on the “meat cartel issue” as the two agencies, Maqis and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, were investigating the matter and would reveal everything once they were ready.
“That the investigation be carried out by the relevant agencies. Jakim’s feedback would only cause discomfort, our statement could jeopardize the investigations, ”Bernama was quoted as saying.
Sirajuddin spoke about the matter on Jakim’s Facebook livestream on a broader topic of halal certifications.
On claims that mixed meats have been a problem for the last 40 years, he said that such claims cannot be verified as they come from meat industry players and not enforcement agencies.
The issue of mixed meat and wrongly declared halal meats made headlines after it was reported that a “cartel” had been importing frozen meats from countries including China, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina.
Reports indicate that meats from these countries are repackaged with halal logos in a Johor warehouse. Authorities have seized 1,500 tonnes of meat worth RM 30 million from a facility in Senai.
