You should worried...

when i surfing on halal food, a lot of hesitation regarding what have we ate before.. we should worried and should do something on it. Below the article that i found on www.islamonline.net should be read by all muslims, especially malaysian muslims.


Halal Logo on Non-Halal Food Upsets Malaysian Muslims
By Kazi Mahmood, IOL South East Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (IslamOnline) - Malaysian consumers are getting increasingly upset over reports of non-Halal products carrying the official Halal logo, leading to complaints to the authorities, news reports said Tuesday, July 23, 2002.
Several cases of abuse of the Halal logo has been found and reported to the proper authorities by concerned Malaysian Muslims, who said the logo was deliberately placed on non-Halal products.
The Islamic Development Department (Jakim) Monday, July 22, announced it was taking the necessary precautions to protect Muslim consumers.
However, concerns are high among Muslims that an abuse of the standards that guides halal certifications could lead to the consumption of non-halal food by their families, IslamOnline was told.
Jakim’s director of research Mustafa Abdul Rahman Monday told the local press in Kuala Lumpur that his organization is looking into two or three serious cases of misuse of the Jakim’s Halal logo.
Abdul Rahman commented on reports in local Malay language dailies about non-Halal products carrying the logo, which mislead many Muslim consumers to buy such products in the good faith that these were Halal.

The Sun Newspaper, an English daily distributed freely in Kuala Lumpur, reported that there were no laws in Malaysia that prevented manufacturers to issuing the Halal logo individually.
If the errant manufacturers are found cheating customers by displaying the logo on non-Halal products, the Jakim, which handles such cases can take action against them.
Individuals can be fined up to & 25, 000 for the first offence of misleading the consumers and the misuse of the logo. The penalty increases is doubled for subsequent offences. Companies can also be fined & 65, 000 to & 130, 000 altogether.
The Jakim said its Halal logo, which became a mark of trust on products permissible for use and consumption by Muslims, were issued only after the products has been certified as Halal by the appointed authorities.
“We will go through every single ingredient before issuing a halal certificate. If need be, we will travel overseas to check on the status of the ingredients used,” Abdul Rahman said.
“It is very difficult to know whether a product is really halal or not. If they start abusing the halal logo and stick it on non-halal products, there will be no trust in local manufacturers altogether,” a member of a consumer association told IslamOnline.

Another consumer, who is a top officer in a government agency told IslamOnline that logo printing on non-halal products were not the only problems Muslim consumers are facing.
He narrated an incident where his wife had to intervene at one of the giant supermarkets in Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur, to get non-halal products removed from the shelf where halal products are displayed.
Malaysia has strict guidance on the display of non-halal products. Some super marts do not sell non-halal products, but most of them do. These products, destined to the non-Muslim clientele, are displayed in shelves that are totally separated from halal products.
The high ranking officer told IslamOnline that the issue of halal and non-halal has to be taken into consideration in Malaysia, considering the sensitivity of halal and non-halal products for Muslims.
Malaysia has a growing Muslim population that today stands at 60 percent of the 27 million people of the country. According to Abdul Rahman, the Malaysian Halal standard was introduced in 1982 and reviewed in 1993.

The printing of the logo certifying a product is halal was made necessary since Malaysia has a majority Muslim population but its manufacturers are not necessarily of the same faith.
Malaysia also imports a variety of products from other countries, some of these products, including Chocolates and sweets or meat and other consumables, are not halal.
The importers of halal products have the obligation to repack their products according to local needs and standards, and in such cases that is where the halal logo is needed.
The halal standard is meant as a guideline to the industries involved in the processing of halal food as well as a basis for ascertaining the halal status by the Malaysian concerned authorities.