Halal Products: Can Halal Labels Always Be Trusted? Report from the Virology Laboratory
Халяль-продукты: всегда ли можно доверять надписи "Халал"? Репортаж из лаборатории вирусологии 30.01.2019

About how product research is conducted on compliance with Shariah requirements and why not all Halal inscriptions can be trusted, in the Informburo.kz report.

At the end of January 2019, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan and the National Center for Expertise of the Committee for the Protection of Public Health of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of cooperation. Now, all food products claiming to receive the Halal official trademark will be tested throughout the country for prohibited ingredients and GMOs in specially accredited laboratories. About how such studies are conducted and why it is not always possible to believe the inscriptions “Halal” on the goods, in the Informburo.kz report.

The inscription "Halal" does not mean anything, there must be a sign from the SAMK

Now Kazakhstan has developed Halal standards for a wide range of products. In addition to the traditional ones - meat, fish, dairy and grain products, as well as fruits, vegetables, sugar, honey and drinks, there are already requirements for baby food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, medicines, household chemicals and even packaging.

However, the labels on the labels do not always guarantee that the contents meet all religious requirements, and the sharia requirements are observed in the manufacture of the product. Beibit Myrzageldiev, the head of the halal production standardization department of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan (SAMK), calls the main reason for this state of affairs in this area legal gaps that make it difficult to make unscrupulous producers responsible.

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Head of the Department for Standardization of Halal Products at the SAMK Beibit Myrzageldiev / Photo from the personal archive

Often, such companies, he said, use prohibited ingredients in the production, but write on the label that the products are halal, or place their own sign on the product, similar to the official logo confirming the halality of the products. And enterprises engaged in such consumer fraud are aware that this is not prohibited by law in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

“If the company placed our Halal sign on the product, then it is already illegal: we can sue and demand to remove it or get certified in accordance with all the rules. But if this company uses a different but similar to our sign on the packaging, then we have no legal reason to demand that it be removed, "says Beibit Myrzageldiev.

He recommends that ordinary Kazakhstanis not believe the inscriptions, but check the register of companies that have been verified by the SAMK and certified. A list of such companies is available on the official website of Halal Damu LLP. It also provides complete information about the institutions, in particular, their location and contact numbers are indicated.

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The official Halal badge, which is issued to companies after certification at the SAMK / Photo by halaldamu.kz

Is it possible to independently determine product halality, and how is it done in laboratories?

In Kazakhstan, according to Beibit Myrzageldiev, requirements have been developed for almost all halal products and processes in the field of public catering. For example, for meat products, slaughter and processing rules have been approved, as well as general requirements for the production, labeling, transportation and provision of food services.

For several years, standardization of halal products has been done by specially accredited laboratories, such as the TreeGene molecular genetic laboratory and the laboratory of the Kazakh Scientific Research Veterinary Institute (KazNIVI). But recently, it was decided to conduct a deeper analysis of the composition of goods.

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Research will be carried out in laboratories accredited according to the standard ST RK ISO / IEC 17025 / Photo informburo.kz

“Time dictates its requirements, and we needed more detailed studies. For example, not only the presence or absence of pork in the products, but also the percentage of alcohol in sauces or cooked dishes. And this opportunity was provided to us by the National Center for Expertise, as they have an extensive a network of laboratories across the country - the central office and 20 branches, including 14 regional and two in Almaty and Astana, as well as 25 city departments, 158 district and four disinfection centers in Shymkent, Uralsk, Petropavlovsk and Almaty, "says Babe t Myrzageldiev.

Detecting the presence of a small amount of, for example, pork or alcohol is quite difficult, notes Bota Berdieva, a doctor at the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service. This task becomes especially difficult given the rapid development of the chemical industry and the market for cheap substitutes for traditional products. Therefore, specialists in the laboratory of virology, NCE apply special methods and algorithms.

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Doctor of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service Bot Berdiev / Photo informburo.kz

“I’ll give an example on sausages. When such a product comes to our laboratory, then at the first stage we check the markings, photograph the product, and also write out the whole composition and register. Next is sample preparation using the five-point envelope method, that is, samples are taken from different places and in a special mill homogenize is made (a kind of mashed potato obtained after mixing and grinding the samples. - Auth.). 300 milligrams are taken from the resulting mass for DNA extraction, "says Bota Berdieva.

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Botha Berdieva inspects the products received for inspection / Photo informburo.kz

The procedure is carried out according to a special algorithm - the stabilization method, which allows you to get more concentrated and pronounced data on the presence of certain animals in the DNA product. Samples are checked for pork, chicken, soy and cattle.

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Specialists take samples from five different places of the product, and then mix them in a special mill to a homogeneous mass / Photo informburo.kz

“We get a clearer result on what kind of meat the test product belongs to. After we have detected the DNA, measure its concentration, and if it is good, then we take PCR (polymerase chain reaction. - Auth.) - in the samples are buried ready-made reagents and mixtures that help to detect the presence, for example, cattle meat. The prepared mixtures are loaded into an amplifier, which displays the interpreted result on the presence of certain ingredients, "explains Bota Berdieva.

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Only 300 milligrams of the product for DNA analysis is taken from the resulting mass / Photo informburo.kz

First, the presence of, for example, beef, and then chicken and soybeans, is revealed. Thus, specialists can find out their percentage in the test product.

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A special test tube with the contents is weighed before the start of the study / Photo informburo.kz

In addition, if according to the results of the study no cattle meat was detected in the product at all, then further studies are carried out to find out which animal meat is in the samples obtained.

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Reagents and mixtures are added to the samples, which help to detect the presence, for example, of cattle meat / Photo informburo.kz

"If the product has the Halal marking, but the later values ​​of the analysis reveal a small presence of beef in the composition, then in any case in this cycle we must put a sample to check for the presence of pork, soy and chicken. Of the case when we could not determine which the meat is in the product, it wasn’t in my practice. We send the results of the research to the specialists of the Department of Public Health. This is where our work ends, "the doctor concludes his story.

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In each analysis cycle, different reagents are added to the samples: some reveal beef meat, others detect poultry, others detect soybeans in the composition / Photo informburo.kz

Botha Berdieva emphasizes that it is practically impossible for ordinary consumers to identify pork in halal products only in appearance. But the presence of soy in sausage is quite real.

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Cooked mixtures are loaded into an amplifier. It displays on the monitor the results of the reaction of the product and the reagent / Photo informburo.kz

According to her, if soy ingredients were used in the preparation, the texture of the product will be more porous and spongy, and if pure meat, then fibers will be visible. This applies to both sausage and canned products, such as stews.

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Samples are also loaded into a laboratory centrifuge for DNA precipitation / Photo informburo.kz

How much money is needed to get the official Halal badge

If the composition of the product is checked by specialists of the National Center for Expertise, then, according to Beibit Myrzageldiev, employees of his department monitor compliance with other requirements.

“For example, every month from the 20th to the 1st day, our representatives in each region conduct scheduled inspections of those industries for which we issued a Halal certificate. There may be unscheduled inspections if you have questions. Recently, we also launched a pilot project in several Kyzylorda massacres. There were cameras installed through which we can monitor all the processes of slaughter at any time at any time, "adds the head of the standardization department for halal products.

In addition, he notes that each accredited SAMK company has its own internal inspector, who is an employee of the company and is directly obligated to monitor compliance with the requirements.

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Specialists of the Virology Laboratory using various methods and verification algorithms can detect the presence of any meat in the product / Photo informburo.kz

Beibit Myrzageldiev emphasizes that not all comers receive permits and successfully pass checks. Sometimes the company eliminates comments during the year and only then receives approval and the right to affix the Halal sign to its products.

“Especially in catering, these processes are very complex and lengthy, because there are so many different ingredients used: colorants, thickeners, flavors, preservatives, emulsifiers, antioxidants, etc. You need to check everything, send samples to the laboratory, wait for the results, because there are a lot of Questions and nuances arise. A specialist in observance of Sharia gives his written opinion, then he checks the technologist, then an expert. After that, the staff is trained and trained: they are told what halal is, once They explain all the nuances, and an internal reviewer is appointed, "says the representative of the SAMK.

The sign itself is issued free of charge, but companies that want to receive it pay for laboratory services and master classes for their employees. On average, according to Myrzageldiev, all these procedures cost from 20 to 50 thousand tenge - depending on the complexity of the inspection and the number of products needed to verify it.