PUTRAJAYA, Dec 29 — The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has prepared an action plan to address the smuggling of non-certified meat into the country, says Jakim deputy director-general (operations) Datuk Abdul Aziz Jusoh.

In a statement today, he said discussion would be held with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), Department of Malaysian Quarantine Inspection Services (Maqis) and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Customs) on January 5, 2021.

He said the focus of the discussion would be to coordinate actions and take the necessary measures to address the issue, besides having an Integrated Action Plan for meat products and imports.

Apart from that, a roundtable discussion would also be held between importers and distributors of meat and meat products with KPDNHEP, Maqis and the Customs on January 11.

The action plan would also discuss issues or problems faced by importers and distributors as well as provide an explanation on the need to comply with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for import and distribution.

"Jakim also encourages the application of the Malaysian Halal Certification (SPHM) through the Logistics (Warehousing) scheme, requiring certificate holders to obtain meat supplies from importers or distributors who have been certified halal under the logistics (warehousing) scheme,” he said.

Through the action plan, Abdul Aziz said Jakim would also promote the list of approved foreign halal certification bodies and their logos.

To date, he said a total of 84 halal certification bodies in 46 countries have been recognised by Jakim.

"With this, consumers can identify the halal logos recognised by Jakim on the packaging labels of imported products sold in the market and importers can easily identify the products they want to import into Malaysia, to avoid doubt and losses,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said visits to slaughterhouses and imported meat warehouses would be intensified to ensure issues such as non-certified meat did not arise.

"The latest SOP with some improvements will be finalised in January,” he said, adding that he hoped the import and local meat industry would remain compliant with the SOP. — Bernama