Official decision on halal status of Cadbury chocolates within seven days

The official decision on the halal status of Cadbury chocolates following the recent detection of pig DNA (porcine) in two of its samples will be made and announced within the next seven days pending

results of the analysis by the Chemistry Department.

Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha said the matter was discussed and agreed to by the Health Ministry; Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry; Chemistry Department and the Department of Standards Malaysia in a special meeting with Jakim here today.

"The Chemistry Department's laboratory is the official laboratory used by Jakim or state Islamic religious departments (JAIN) in matters concerning halal certification as stipulated in the Malaysian Halal Certification Procedures Manual," he said in a statement issued after the meeting.

Othman said the laboratory had also been gazetted as a food laboratory, which is competent in carrying out food analysis, and was accredited by the Department of Standards Malaysia under the Malaysian Laboratory Accreditation Scheme based on Standard MS ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 for DNA testing, including in highly processed food.

The two samples of Cadbury chocolate products found to be contaminated with pig DNA are the Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut (with batch number 200813 M01H I2 that expires on Nov 13, 2014) and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond (with batch number 221013 N01R I1 that expires on Jan 15, 2015).

Othman said the meeting also decided that the Health Ministry should submit an official report on the matter to Jakim to complete the investigation findings.

He said Jakim had also deployed its monitoring and halal enforcement team to run a check on the whole production chain of the company, including in terms of ingredients, processing flow, storage, equipment and utensils, as part of the investigation.

"So, all quarters are advised not to be hasty in taking action, but to leave it to the authorities to decide," he said.

Meanwhile, he said any detection of porcine in halal-certified products by any other agencies should also be coordinated with Jakim of JAIN.

"As such, statements concerning halal issue will only be issued by Jakim to prevent confusion among the public," he said.

He said holders of the Malaysian Halal Certificate were also required to carry out periodical tests on their products and critical ingredients (such as animal-based ingredients) at laboratories accredited by the Department of Standards Malaysia.