Dr.Hüseyin Kâmi BÜYÜKÖZER / GİMDES President
First of all, as we have pointed out many times, Halal and Tayyib Life system requirement are the most blessed consumer’s right for Muslims even all human beings. This right is Muslims essential necessity and belief matter. If the certification process becomes without considering this important right, it means this is kind of abuse for their commercial desire. Therefore, it is unique duty to all of our Muslim brothers and sister who believe they are Muslim and be the Prophet’s Ummah (peace be upon him) has to be up against towards these deviants.
1-) As GIMDES, the main consideration for Accreditation and Recognition of any Halal Certifying Body (HCB) is whether the HCB operates as per the requirements of “Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah” and whether the HCB accepts the Notion of Kaffalah (Having the responsibility on behalf of the Islamic Ummah).
2-) As GIMDES, we used to accept certificates from almost all HCBs worldwide but a couple years ago we realized that not all the HCBs are as strict as we are and we have collected reasonable evidence that some HCBs indeed abuse the Halal Certification system and that they only seek for their own benefits instead of protecting the rights of the Ummah. Even though there are many examples regarding that, we would like to give a few below;
a-)Some HCBs certify the gelatin factories by looking at their production systems and technical information. However, gelatin is a very critical product and all the incoming raw materials must be checked and verified that they are only from Halal animals slaughtered in Islamic way. In most cases of gelatin production, where almost all gelatin factories are established in non-Muslim countries, the risk of mixing Halal and non-Halal or doubtful materials are very high.
b-) HCBs should consider the different views of Mazhabs when doing the certification. Some HCBs certify Carmine, which is extracted from insects; however, this product is not accepted by 2 Mazhabs of Islam (Hanbali and Hanafi).
c-) Some HCBs locally certify multi-national producers by their brand. However, when an international brandis Halal-certified in a country, then Muslims tend to believe that such a producer respect the Islam religion and easily consume their products without even checking the contents. This is a risk for Muslim consumer.
d-) Some HCB never visit the certified companies after certifying or do the audit once every 2-3 years. This is too risky as commercial companies and producers may change their systems, ingredients or formulas.
3-) Some HCBs don’t have any single international recognition and works as family business or like a representative just for specific community.
4-) The international generality as per slaughter methods must be suitable Islamic Zabiha. However, the application and control about that isn’t observance.
5-) Some HCBs certify some unhealthy ingredients and raw materials although scientific researches prove that those products are harmful to humans and to environment.
6-) So-called Halal Certification bodies speak of Halal standard, which is totally reviewed of ISO22000 standards. It is impossible to generate hundred percent genuine Halal Standards with just applying non-Islamic quality standards and certification documents such as ISO. Halal Certification has distinct parameters and mission in itself. There isn’t any similarity between Halal and Tayyib quality and current quality standards. For this reason, we don’t approve ISO-Halal Quality or TSE-Halal Quality, which isn’t hundred percent Islamic foundation.
In any case, we have developed a policy for recognition and accreditation of HCBs. As per our procedures, we have to visit, examine and approve the HCB before accepting their certificates. Obviously, this procedure takes some time until we come to a full level of understanding. We know that this is a slow process but our mission is to feed the Muslims with Halal and to protect their right for the consent of Allah only and while doing this, we want to be strict and fair. There are already Halal certifiers available in some countries and we believe number of reliable HCBs worlwide will increase.
We have examined many Halal Certificates from HFCE, IFANCA and Halal Quality Control (HQC) and their application in the facilities, we have mentioned some of them above. We have reasonable doubts that they don’t do the certifying as strict as it should be. For these reasons, According to our kafalat mentality regarding HCBs certificates hasn’t been recognized since 31.12.2012.
In that concept, we strongly recommend to our brothers & sisters and companies to supply their raw materials from recognized Halal Certification bodies by GIMDES.
For your kind information.
