Wednesday, January 29, 2014

TMR: DSM aspires to intensify halal standards practices





by R Kamalavacini

The Department of Standards Malaysia (DSM) is aspiring to intensify halal standards practices to abide by Malaysian Standards (MS), said its DG Fadilah Baharin.

Fadilah said the department has found the formula for the effective ways of implementing halal practices that are up to MS, as well as to comply to the department of Islamic Development Malaysia’s requirements.

“It took almost three years to convince the stakeholders and to conduct a pilot programme namely, halal AQL certified industry foundation (CIF) programme.

“This is just the first level. There are three more levels to go for the participants to fully qualify themselves as a halal practitioner,” she told the media after presenting halal AQL certificate to 32 qualified participants in Putrajaya yesterday.

Fadilah said the programme, which started in January 2013, was conducted to ensure local industry players understand and implement the halal requirements based on the MS.

“In our preliminary selection process, about 32% of participants admitted they had zero knowledge on halal standards practices. However, after going through our foundation programme, 97% of participants excelled and qualified for AQL certification,” she added.

CIF pilot programme is a smart partner initiative which is fully funded by the government. About RM100,000 has been spent for the two series of training sessions .

Fadilah said this initiative will be continuous, however, the next batch to join the training has to bear the costs themselves.

To date, Standards Malaysia has developed more than 6,500 MS across 24 sectors and 60% of these are aligned with international standards.

This means the industry players can improve the marketability and competitiveness of their products and services in both local and global markets

Meanwhile, Censof Holdings Bhd ED Ameer Shaik Mydin said the halal AQL programme can be monetised with proper implementation practices

“I am convinced that we can achieve the objectives of transforming our economies through the halal AQL programme if we persevere in mobilising our energies towards economic growth and prosperity,” said Ameer.



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