Jakim takes Cadbury samples from factory for tests

Two samples of Cadbury chocolate that are said to have traces of pig (porcine) DNA have been taken from a factory here for tests, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.

He said the samples were being examined by a laboratory in Petaling Jaya authorised by the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to issue halal certificates.

The lab, gazetted as a competent food laboratory in food analysis, is accredited by the Department of Standards under the Laboratory Accreditation Scheme of Malaysia based on the Standard of MS ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 for DNA testing, including testing of processed foods.

"The samples of Cadbury products were taken from the plant to avoid contamination. The source of the samples is important in analysing the content of the material in a lab.

"The Health Ministry lab is not dedicated to determine whether a product is 'halal' or contains a pig DNA, but associated discoveries, and their samples are not from a factory," he told reporters after opening an assembly in conjunction with the national dakwah programme 2014 here Sunday.

Jamil Khir urged the public to wait until the test results on the two products were known on Wednesday.

The Health Ministry recently detected two samples of the Cadbury chocolate, namely the Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond which contained pig DNA (porcine).

Following the uproar, Jakim held a meeting with the Health Ministry, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, the Chemistry Department, and the Department of Standards Malaysia.

The meeting has agreed that Jakim will carry out tests to determine the halal status of the products and the Health Ministry is supposed to submit its analysis officially to Jakim to facilitate investigations.