Bangladesh is set to enter the 661 billion dollar market of halal foods as the Malaysia's Department of Islamic Development has approved Islamic Foundation Bangladesh as a halal certification body.
The IFB will act as the board of certification with technical support from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and the Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
A senior commerce ministry official said on Thursday, 'Malaysia's Department of Islamic Development has approved Bangladesh Islamic Foundation as a halal certification body and included it in the list of halal certification bodies across the world, which will open a huge opportunity for grabbing a share of the global halal food marker.'
Earlier, the DID of Malaysia sought list of halal certification bodies from different Muslim countries. Bangladesh named the IFB as the supreme authority for halal product certification with technical support from the BCSIR and the DID of Malaysia approved the proposal.
Food products prepared following a set of Islamic dietary laws and regulations, which determine what is permissible, lawful, and clean, are classified as halal.
The exporters have been urging the government to strengthen the IFB and help them start exporting halal foods from the country.
World Halal Forum data shows the halal food market has grown fast over the past decade and is now worth an estimated 661.6 billion a year. As such, it represents close to 17 per cent of the entire global food industry and marks a 4.2 per cent rise from the value of $634.5 billion in 2009.
Having a halal certification body is mandatory for a country to export halal foods.
'The national committee on halal certification body recommended to the government that it should improve the capacity of the IFB and ensure proper implementation of halal food certification responsibility,' said Jalal Ahmed, chief of the committee and also the vice chairman of Export Promotion Bureau.
The committee has representations from the ministries of fisheries and livestock and religious affairs, the BIF, the BSTI, The BCSIR, Bengal Meat, and Meghna Condensed Milk. This body will take necessary steps to form a halal certification board and monitor the certification process.
Jalal Ahmed told New Age that the DID of Malaysia approved the proposal of Bangladesh to establish a halal certification authority, where the IFB would issue certificates and the BCSIR would ensure the product quality and deal with other relevant issues.
'The interested companies can apply for halal certification after the formalities of commerce ministry are completed,' Jalal added.
Commerce secretary Ghulam Hussain said, 'Bangladesh can earn a huge amount of foreign currency from halal food export but the lack of certification has barred us from entering this prospective market.'
'The government will soon launch the certification process,' he added.
The DID of Malaysia recommended that the Bangladesh government should follow standards, which include the regulation of shariah-compliant systems ratified by the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a grouping of businesses of 56 Islamic countries.
The largest contributors to the halal food market in Asia are Indonesia, China, India, Malaysia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council members including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Commerce ministry sources said five companies, who already had received large orders from abroad to supply halal food, demanded formation of a certification body to move forward.
The companies are Modern Abattoir, Bengal Meat, Premier Abattoir, Meghna Food Industries, and Bangladesh Organic Food Processors.
'The Malaysian government is working with Bangladesh to expand the halal food market and to import food items from Bangladesh,' said Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Syed Moazzam Hossain.
He said, 'Already, some companies have signed contracts with Malaysian importers to supply halal foods.'
Source : New Age
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