It is agreed upon by all Muslims that for the meat of a land animal to be Halal it must be slaughtered by a Muslim who pronounces the Name of Allah before killing the animal by cutting its throat. The proper Islamic method of slaughtering an animal is called Dhabiha.
(Source Wikipedia Encyclopaedia) Halal food means permitted under the Islamic Law and should fulfill the following conditions:
-- does not consist of or contain anything which is considered to be unlawful according to Islamic Law;
-- has not been prepared, processed, transported or stored using any appliance or facility that was not free from anything unlawful according to Islamic Law; and
-- has not in the course of preparation, processing, transportation or storage been in direct contact with any food that fails to satisfy 2 points mentioned above.
Notwithstanding Section above:
-- halal food can be prepared, processed or stored in different sections or lines within the same premises where non-halal foods are produced, provided that necessary measures are taken to prevent any contact between halal and non-halal foods;
-- halal food can be prepared, processed, transported or stored using facilities which have been previously used for non-halal foods provided that proper cleaning procedures, according to Islamic requirements, have been observed.
The news about banning recently the import of poultry feed containing pork by the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been a right step to protect interests of the end users of Pakistan.
However the possibility of consuming imported frozen poultry, beef and mutton raised on pork still exists. Though these products are labelled 'Halal' this is related only to the process of slaughtering or Zabihah and it has nothing to do with the keeping or feeding of the said birds or animals.
Knowledgeable sources regret that in Pakistan there is utter disregard for the established international practices regarding import of food stuff, particularly meat which has the potential of transmitting communicable diseases and infections besides religious obligations such as avoiding Haram foods.
Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) as per its mandate has laid down such national standards based on WHO/Codex alimentarius Commission for compliance that forbids import of non halal food products in Pakistan. There is a need to follow international practices that require:
1) Particulars of establishment exporting company's plant registration number, the type of products manufacture and the products intended for export, etc.
2) Accredited official certificate stating the source of raw material ie Livestock / Poultry / Meat/ Value added products that also certify Good Husbandry Practices and antibiotic and chemical residue monitoring program and that the poultry or the animals have not been given any feed containing pig offal meal or pig fats, especially for any Muslim country.
3) Sanitation program, pest control program and recall program in case the product is found contaminated or unfit for human consumption.
4) Facilities of Bacteriological examination including various methods, their frequency and the records.
5) The manpower, their number, qualification including professional, technical and general along with history of medical examination and their fitness to work in a food processing plant. Their annual health check / medical record, etc to ensure they are free from communicable diseases like Salmonellosis, Listeriosis, Tuberculosis and HIV, etc.
6) Slaughtering and processing premises with its equipment's, type, brand and manufacture with the flow chart of the slaughtering procedure for poultry and other life stock.
7) Food safety program based on HACCP concepts with the name of certifying authority. Also sampling and testing procedure and the sanitation standards operating procedures.
8) Storage Facilities for packing, for chemical, disinfectants and other cleaning or samitizing agents.
9) Offal Handling and cooling procedures, waste treatment and disposal with the system of delivery of inedible condemned products Pakistan is importing a large quantity of frozen poultry meat, beef, mutton and their value added products for its rapidly expanding fast food outlets from South Africa, Australia, India, China and Brazil; without ascertaining their Halal status and being free from any pig meat components of its feed. The chances of pig fats in animal feeds in these countries cannot be ruled out as all consume pork and have a large pig population.
The solution to this problem lies with the effective implementation of the relevant PSQCA adopted standards: GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR USE OF THE TERM "HALAL" CAC/GL 24-1997 and GUIDELINES FOR FOOD IMPORT CONTROL SYSTES CAC/GL 47-2003, REV 1-2006. These standing order procedures cover all such technical aspects and are internationally recognised / accepted, even if seen in the context of WTO/TBT agreements.
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