News From : DagangHalal.com (25 Feb 2010)
MELAKA, Feb 25 (Bernama) — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will consider requests to build a laboratory for inspection and certification of halal food products and herbs before being exported.
Its deputy minister, Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, said currently, exporters used the lab facilities in Singapore for certification before being exported, especially to the European Union (EU) countries.
“The products that are verified and certified in Singapore will be easily accepted into the EU countries, although they actually originated from Malaysia,” he told reporters after officiating at a meeting with entrepreneurs and exporters organised by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) here on Thursday.
He said Malaysia did not have labs for verification and certification of the food products and herbs for exports.
“Singapore has been used as a transit point before the products are exported and they are considered Singapore-produced,” he said.
Mukhriz said in his meetings in the states and visits by the associations to his ministry, the issue of setting up the lab like in Singapore has been brought up and it’s time to consider it.
He said countries like China, through the China Inspection Corp, recently signed an agreement to make inspection of food products exported to the country be done in Malaysia.
“This is a step to facilitate the inspection for our goods entering the Chinese market,” he said.
He said the ministry would consider setting up an office in Malacca because there were many requests from exporters.
According to exporters, at present they had to deal with the MITI office in Putrajaya and Johor Baharu for the purpose of documentation and certification.
Earlier, in his speech, Mukhriz said China and Hong Kong were the largest export market last year which amounted to RM96.1 billion, or 17.4 per cent, of total exports of RM553.3 billion.
He said MITI, through Matrade, has 40 offices around the world, would continue to assist exporters through various programmes.
— BERNAMA