THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HALAL CERTIFICATION
The History
1) Halal Certification started for two reasons:

a) Because the Muslims are of the minorities. To this situation, the Muslims need their
food to be certified. We can see these phenomena in South African (Cape Town), Fiji, New
Zealand and other parts in the world. The halal food can be seen in Muslim Restaurants
and the halal meat can be subscribed from their own butcher.

b) Because the Muslims are of simple majority like Malaysia or of a so-called majority like
Indonesia, but food are scattered every where which need to be determined whether it is
halal or non-halal.

Note: For countries where muslim are absolute majority like Arab countries in the Middle
East or North Africa, halal certification is required only for meat or meat products.
However, Products of meat free need not to certify or to be recognized as halal. For them
the general foods in the market are already halal without duly halal tagging.

2) For these two categories of Muslim countries, the minority and the simple majority,
halal certification had started in late70s or early 80s. Why? Because in those days, food as
started coming from various countries such as USA, Europe, China and any where in the
world. These food or fast food contained meat or animal derivatives that need to be
certified. Before 70s or 80s, no such food had come to Muslim countries like Malaysia,
Brunei and Indonesia. Therefore, certification was not seen as very important.
Late 70s or early 80s
As the result of such a demand for halal certification, there exist a few certification
bodies in USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan and so on. They are: Islamic
Foods and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), Islamic Services of America (ISA) and
Halal Food Council International (HFCI) in USA. We see Australian Federation Of Islamic
Council (AFIC), Federation Of Islamic Association Of New Zealand (FIANZ), Islamic
Development Department Of Malaysia (JAKIM), Islamic Religious Council Of Singapore
(MUIS), Ulama Council Of Indonesia (MUI), Central Islamic Committee Of Thailand (CICT)
and many others in the region. Other bodies exist in France, Germany, United Kingdom,
Netherlands and everywhere in the world.
Early 90s and early millennium
In the early 90s and early millennium, the number of halal certification bodies has
increased double. This is due to the demand for halal certification especially in
countries that need to export products to Muslim countries such as China, USA, Europe,
Australia and New Zealand. It is no surprise if halal certifications bodies increase from
time to time in countries like China, because China is a very big country. Therefore,
other international certification bodies are interested to operate in China such as Halal
Food Council International (HFCI).  There is no law in any country to restrict certification
body to the locals only, as the discretion to choose is in the hand of customers.

As more certification bodies all over the world come into existent from time to time, they
are subject to recognition or rejection. Certificate issued by some minor certification
bodies may be rejected by other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.



Halal Food Council International (HFCI)
@
Halal Food Council SEA (HFC-SEA)
Halal Supervision and Halal Certification