Halal Pharmaceutical Guidelines Delayed

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's halal pharmaceutical guidelines have yet to be released and await the endorsement of the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (BIRC), the senior scientific officer of the Ministry of Health's (MoH) Pharmaceutical Services Department said.

Initially slated to be unveiled during the Fourth International Halal Market Conference (IHMC), the guidelines are supposed to address the different aspects of risk areas pertaining to the production of Halal pharmaceutical products Zubaidah Hj Mahmud told The Brunei Times after the conference.

However, she could not divulge further detail on the guidelines itself since it had not been endorsed as it was still technically in draft stage. Though, she did say that the eventual endorsement of the guidelines will allow interested parties to invest in this specific Halal segment.

"Once the Halal (pharmaceutical) guidelines are endorsed by the Brunei Islamic Religious Council, it will be open for any investors that has put interest into the manufacturing of Halal medicines, traditional medicines and health supplements:. She said.

As the owner of the guidelines, the BIRC has the capacity to appoint the appropriate auditors to audit the manufacturers or producers of Halal products. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health's role would be to be the agency that ensures that the products produced are safe for consumption and is of acceptable quality, she said.

Zubaidah explained that Halal certification would give the products added value to become competitive since they would meet Molts requirements as a safe product. ''The baseline is already set by the Ministry of Health. so whatever the additional requirements pertaining to the production of Halal quality products, is up to the various agencies under the Ministry of Religious Affairs," she said.

The senior scientific officer explained how the formulation of the guidelines involved various relevant agencies who gave their views and input on the matter. She said that discussions have been held on a weekly basis since the beginning of the year.

It was decided during these meetings that the IHMC was the most appropriate venue to unveil the guidelines. However, several aspects of the guidelines still need to be attended to and thus, the guidelines would have to be revealed at another date in the near future, to ensure its integrity. -Certain elements you cannot push too much. so at the moment it is still at draft stage, pending endorsement from the council," she said.

The idea is there but it cannot be implemented yet, she added. "InsyaAllah, it won't be long now".

The IHMC came to a close yesterday after running for two days. It saw a "world-class" line-up of speakers. Who spoke of the emerging Halal industry in the midst of the global crisis and Brunei's achievements in the industry, among a host of relevant topics. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times