Halal certification, explained for exporters

Halal certification confirms that a product is permissible under Islamic rules, judged on three layers: ingredients, the production process and the facility. It is issued by a Halal certification body, and its value to a buyer depends on whether that body is recognised by the authority of the destination market. For a snack exporter, understanding the three layers and how recognition is checked matters more than the logo itself.

Halal covers three layers

Halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden) are the two root concepts. For meat, the story is about slaughter. Snacks and nutrition bars contain almost no meat, but the risks sit in places few people look:

• Ingredients and additives: gelatin and its source, the coagulating enzyme in cheese powder (animal or microbial), emulsifiers derived from animal fat, flavourings carried in alcohol, whey and other dairy derivatives.
• Processing aids: release oils, equipment cleaning agents, food grade lubricants.
• Process: whether shared lines are cleaned properly to prevent cross contamination, and whether the warehouse separates Halal and non Halal goods.
• Facility: a named Halal officer, a Halal assurance system (the internal procedures that keep Halal status intact), and traceability records for every ingredient.

So a Halal certificate is not only about the recipe. It says that the facility has been assessed on all three layers, and it names the specific products that are certified.

Who issues, and who recognises

Halal certificates are issued by certification bodies after an ingredient review, a site audit and a document check. What makes this complicated is that each market has its own Halal authority, and each authority keeps a list of foreign certification bodies it recognises. Malaysia has JAKIM; other countries have their own. A certificate accepted in one market is not automatically accepted in another.

A serious buyer does three things: reads the name of the issuing body on the certificate, looks that name up in the recognition list of their own country's authority, and checks that the product they intend to buy is on the certificate's product list. Halal certificates often run for shorter periods than other certifications, so the expiry date deserves a look too.

The Halal logo on packaging must follow the issuing body's rules. Putting the logo on a product that is not on the list is a violation, even if the recipe contains nothing of concern.

Why Halal matters to a snack exporter

Markets with large Muslim populations usually treat Halal as a condition for being listed, not as a bonus. For importers there, the Halal question comes before the taste question. In many other markets some buyers also read Halal as a sign that the facility controls its ingredients and traceability well, because the certification forces a site to know exactly where every component comes from.

Halal is not a health promise. It does not say that a product is more nutritious or cleaner in a dietary sense, and we do not use it as that kind of advertising.

How we work with Halal

Color of Vietnam products are made at partner facilities in Hanoi. The facility holds Halal certification issued by HCA under a JAKIM recognised programme. We tell buyers exactly that: the certificate belongs to the manufacturing facility, it carries a product list and validity dates, and a copy is sent on request so they can check it themselves.

A situation that comes up regularly in product development: when choosing a cheese powder for a new flavour in the Let's PLAY Cheese Ball line, the first question we ask the supplier is not the price. It is the powder's Halal certificate and the source of the coagulating enzyme. An ingredient without Halal paperwork does not go into a trial batch, because if it did, the finished product could never be added to the certified list later. Every new flavour is reviewed with the partner's Halal officer before it is trialled.

We have not announced an export market yet. What is ready is the facility's Halal file and an ingredient list with the paperwork to match.

Questions to ask before trusting a Halal logo

If you are an importer, a distributor or an ingredient supplier, this is the list we use on ourselves:

• Which body issued it, and is that body on the recognition list of the destination market?
• Which facility does the certificate name, which products does it list, and when does it expire?
• Does each sensitive ingredient carry its own Halal certificate from the supplier?
• Does the facility run shared lines, and how is changeover cleaning recorded?
• Does the logo on the pack follow the issuing body's artwork and conditions of use?

If you are an importer in a market that requires Halal and would like to see the facility's certification file and the ingredient list, send us a message through the Contact page. If you would like to do documentation and export work at a small snack company, the open roles are on the Careers page.