Halal Certification Precautions: Pork and Dog Ingredients

Pork or dog ingredients may well be stored, handled or processed. Because of the threat from pork and dog meat, halal food certification bodies have decided to incorporate pork and dog policies and standards into their policies and standards. This is explained below. Now, all halal poultry, meat and food processors must provide a halal production environment that isolates all storage, handling, production, labeling and transport operations — including all similar activities — to avoid potential cross-contamination and the presence of any foreign DNA in halal products. The detailed requirements are as follows: All halal poultry and meat should be sourced from suppliers with a valid halal certificate or a certificate from a qualified halal certification body. Self-certification of the halal status of meat and poultry is not recognized. All halal food production should be carried out using dedicated complete sets of equipment, utensils, production lines and storage equipment, and must not, under any circumstances, come into contact with pork, dog or their ingredients. The halal certification body reserves the right to conduct unannounced audits of the plant's processing premises/facilities, to carry out verification checks and routine monitoring of the plant's halal production operations based on the information provided to it. At any time during announced or unannounced audits, the body's auditors must be granted access to the site and relevant records and information on request. If access to premises or relevant information is refused during an unannounced audit, a major non-conformity may be ruled, which will lead to the suspension and ultimately the revocation of halal certification for the facilities and products in scope. The halal certification body has also decided to arrange third-party DNA testing of the plant's halal products (including meat and poultry) to protect product halal integrity, in the interest of consumers. The body reserves the right to arrange to enforce these DNA tests. If the plant cannot provide a dedicated halal food production environment isolating pork and dog and their raw materials, and continues to use the plant's production facilities to process pork and halal food without isolation, the body has no choice but to terminate the agreement and withdraw the current halal certificate. No cleaning/hygiene regime can substitute for the above requirement to isolate pork.