Malaysia's Halal Food Attracts Global Attention

Malaysia is the birthplace of international standards for halal food processing. Malaysians seized the opportunity of the times, started earliest, and, based on systematic academic research and an industrial system, built a solid international halal food industry and commerce within a few decades. If Malaysia represents the cultural characteristics of Eastern Muslim culture, then Malaysia's halal food is an important part of that scenery, attracting Muslim tourists from the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

The government drives Malaysia's halal industry to flourish

The halal industry is one of the industries Malaysia has focused on building in recent years. To develop the country into a production and sales center for halal products and services as early as possible, the Malaysian government introduced a series of new measures in 2006, striving to push the halal industry to a new level. When submitting the 2007 budget report, Malaysian Prime Minister Badawi again emphasized that the halal industry, as a high-value-added industry, has broad room for growth. He believes that Malaysia has the potential to become a leader in the halal industry and play a more active role in promoting the development of the international halal industry.

In 2007, the Malaysian government would set up a Halal Industry Development Corporation, responsible for coordinating and leading the all-round development of the halal industry, with a start-up fund of 25 million ringgit (1 US dollar is about 3.67 ringgit). In addition, the government would allocate 50 million ringgit in 2008 to add halal product industrial parks in states such as Kelantan, Pahang and Perlis. Malaysia's SME Bank would also provide 20 million ringgit in loans to provide financial support to entrepreneurs wishing to make their mark in this field.

According to statistics, the halal food exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur in May 2006 attracted 487 exhibitors from about 20 countries and regions, as well as 209 buyers from nearly 30 countries and regions, with the exhibition scale significantly larger than in 2005. The first World Halal Products Forum held at the same time also welcomed more than 500 participants, with topics covering the production, processing, storage, sales and logistics of halal products. After the bumper harvest in 2006, the Malaysian government announced in 2007 that Malaysia would hold an international halal food exhibition and a World Halal Products Forum every year, building a trade and exchange platform for practitioners in the field and continuously pushing Malaysia's halal products into international markets.

Ambitious: Malaysia's halal food enters the global market

There are about 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide, 17% of whom are distributed in Southeast Asia. Halal food is an important expression of the ethnic cultural connotation of the Muslim community. With its principles of choosing only the wholesome, being careful and selective, strict hygiene, attention to nutrition and emphasis on health care, it forms its own system and is a gem in the world's treasury of food culture. Today halal food has formed a relatively large coverage and is increasingly loved by people for its unique style.

As a highly representative country in ASEAN, Malaysia has always played a leading role in promoting halal food globally. Malaysia's Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Shafie Apdal, said on 5 December 2006 that after the unprecedented success of the Malaysian Islamic food exhibition held in Dubai, Middle East, in 2006, the Malaysian government would move it to France in March or May 2007, as a starting point for entering the European market.

To introduce internationally standardized halal food into the Chinese market and gradually penetrate Muslim-populated areas in China to open up extensive sales channels, Malaysia's BIZ Global Trade Group sent a delegation to Shanghai in 2006. BIZ Group Executive CEO Abdullah Ahmad said: 'We start from Shanghai, China's open port, and gradually open up new markets in inland Muslim regions through Chinese agency companies. Our group company and manufacturers have a wide range of halal series products, and we firmly believe they will be loved by the broad Muslim population.'

Products entering Malaysia must obtain halal certification

Malaysia's halal food market is very broad. Data show that Malaysia's beef self-sufficiency rate is only 17%. Malaysia not only needs to import large quantities of beef every year, but also needs to import live cattle for breed improvement and slaughter. The 'Malaysia-China Halal Industry Business Opportunity Seminar' was held in Beijing on 30 June 2006, and Chinese enterprises can use this opportunity to learn about the halal food market in Malaysia and even ASEAN countries.

As a Muslim country and OIC member, Malaysia has Muslims (mainly Malays) as its main ethnic group, and halal food is the mainstream food in Malaysia; in supermarkets and other food business venues, non-halal food is labeled with red tags to distinguish it from halal food. Malaysia's food-related government departments all regulate and manage halal food from their own perspectives; for example, the Department of Standards Malaysia formulated the 'General Guidelines on the Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage of Halal Food.' The department specifically responsible for halal food management in Malaysia is JAKIM, under the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department, which formulated the 'General Guidelines on the Slaughter of Animals and the Preparation and Handling of Halal Food' and is responsible for the country's halal food certification.

Therefore, when doing business with Malaysia, not only must the positioning of products and customers be high, but obtaining the HALAL certification recognized by Islamic countries must also be considered. HALAL certification is a standard qualification certification for products consumed and used by Muslims. Halal means food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and additives for food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics that conform to Muslims' living habits and needs. Muslims cannot consume materials extracted from the bodies of pigs or other animals not slaughtered by the halal slaughter method. Animal raw materials such as cattle, sheep, deer, moose, chicken, duck and game birds also need to be halal, but they must be slaughtered using a method that complies with Islamic law before they can be eaten (or otherwise used). Substances not conforming to halal must not be added during the manufacturing process of Halal products; product storage must comply with halal regulations; Halal biological materials must be certified by relevant Muslim bodies (such as Islamic associations); and Muslim food, health-product and cosmetic industries all need Halal certification when using these materials.

Therefore, the prerequisite for doing a good job in Malaysia's beef and mutton export business is obtaining the country's halal food certification. Faced with the great wave of impending unification of international Islamic food certification, all industry practitioners, while focusing on their own production, should pay more attention to changes in the international community, always knowing both themselves and others, so as to remain invincible in an increasingly internationalized environment.