Asia
First forum on RP halal food guidelines slated in Zambo
By Press release
Apr 26, 2007, 12:01

THE first of a series of local consultations all over the country on the proposed Philippine guidelines on halal food is scheduled on April 28, at the Garden Orchid Hotel in Zamboanga City.

The conduct of local consultations was one of the agreements reached during the meetings of the Bureau of Product Standards Technical Committee on Halal Food (BPS-TCHF) in order to get the consensus of Muslim Ulamas and Aleems outside Muslim Mindanao, according to Dr. Sitti Amina Jain, assistant regional director of the Department of Trade and Industry Regional Office 9.

r. Jain disclosed that the consultations are an upshot of the Halal Inter-Agency Committee's earlier decision to finally adopt the Muslim Mindanao Halal Certification Guidelines as basis for Muslim religious scholars, Shariah experts, as well as competent personnel from the Department of Science and Technology to draft the proposed national guidelines on halal food production, preparation, packaging, labeling and handling.

Halal is an Arabic term meaning permissible and it mostly refers to food produced and prepared according to Islamic law.

After Zamboanga City, local consultations will follow in Regions 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13. Separate consultations will also be conducted in Southern and Northern Luzon as well as in the NCR together with Region 4A, Central Luzon and Region 3.

The consultations will be carried out by the BPS Technical Committee on Halal Food in coordination with the DTI, including DTI-Armm, and other coordinating agencies like the Departments of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Tourism, Health, and Office of Muslim Affairs as well as with the Muslim Mindanao Halal Certification Board, Inc. and the Muslim religious scholars in each of the regions to be covered.

The final draft of the proposed Philippine General Guidelines on Halal Food shall be prepared after all the local consultations in the identified regions shall have been completed. The final draft shall be presented during the National Halal Summit tentatively scheduled in Zamboanga City in July this year.

The Muslim religious scholars and Shariah experts are expected to officially endorse said guidelines to the national government during the Summit.

The government through the BPS TCHF shall then translate the guidelines into the Philippine National Standards (PNS) format which shall be eventually promulgated by the Bureau of Product Standards, an agency under the DTI as the PNS on Halal Food Production, Preparation, Packaging Labeling and Handling.

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