In line with the government’s aspiration to harness Malaysian economy towards digitalisation, JAKIM in collaboration with the states’ religious department, Serunai Commerce and other stakeholders has successfully organised the Malaysia Halal Digital Application Empowerment Symposium which was held on the 30th of September 2022.

The rise of fake Halal issues has made it important for the industry and consumers to be well-informed upon purchasing a product or materials. Therefore, Verify Halal has made it possible for them to search, check, and verify Halal products, services, materials and abattoirs through their mobile phone. 

According to the Director of JAKIM’s Halal Management Division, Bukhari Md Akhir, this application will provide answers to any issues that threaten the public’s confidence, including explanations of Halal issues that are viral on social media.

Enforcement is indeed there, however we would like to remind consumers to be mindful especially when choosing a Halal product. On the consumer side, they certainly would choose a product with a valid Halal logo, while the seller sometimes taking short cut by pasting fake logo on their products to gain customers’ trust.

So to ensure this, users may use the application to search and verify the Halal logo on the product whether it has a valid Halal certification,” said Bukhari to RTM at the event. He also added that the development of this digital application could nurture towards a sustainable economic growth besides together improving Malaysia’s Halal certification management.

Through Verify Halal and a few other innovations, JAKIM has been awarded the Best Halal Innovation 2020 by the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMICC). 

According to the Head of Serunai Halal Centre of Excellence, Mr Mohd Jabal, the Verify Halal app could help protect the integrity of the Halal certification in the industry whether from illegal use of the Halal logo on products as well as incorrect viral issues on social media related to Halal.

“Besides JAKIM, we have also worked with international Halal certification bodies that are recognised by JAKIM. So, the products and services certified by these Halal certification bodies could also be found on the Verify Halal application.”

“Certain products might be well-known as Halal certified in Malaysia. However, there are some brands especially those produced from overseas and difficult for us to search for their Halal logo, we can check and verify using the Verify Halal application,” said Jabal to RTM.

Hopefully, the partnership between Serunai Commerce, JAKIM and other sectors could further leverage the digitalisation of Halal in Malaysia as well as at the international level.