EXIMO is Halal.

23.07.2008 | Quality assurance system for exports.

Together with Halal Correct, an independent accredited testing and certification body for Halal food in the Netherlands, EXIMO visited Latvia for several days in June 2008. The aim was to build up jointly with Preili and Valmiera, the Latvian dairies in Riga, a quality assurance system for exports that conformed to “Halal” requirements. Halal is a technical term from Islamic law. It denotes all acts and things which are allowed or permitted in Islam. Halal commandments for Moslems exist not only in the food sector, such as the well-known bans on pork and alcohol, but also at all levels of public life, such as the fields of clothing, social, education and culture. Even in the field of commerce and finance (contracts, bank transactions, insurance etc.) the relevant codex is to be applied. By contrast with Halal, the term Haraam means, from the point of view of Islamic law and the Sharia, all things which are forbidden to Moslems by Islam.

The audits of the dairies in Latvia were conducted a cross-level basis. Here the focus is not only on the products actually output by the factory, but also on the supplier side with all additives and cleaning products used in the relevant upstream factories. Particularly in the case of cheese, special attention is paid to ripening cultures and enzymes, where contact with animal tissues or alcohol during the production process cannot be ruled out. In most cases the additive manufacturers are themselves Halal certified, with the result that a normal certificate check is usually sufficient. In other cases, the raw materials used must be backed up by appropriate declarations from the manufacturers. Halal auditing pays very special attention to the issue of hygiene. Cleaning and disinfection procedures and the relevant documentation were the subject of meticulous inspection at the factories.

Successful Halal certification of EXIMO for products produced in Latvia in accordance with specifications for the Halal sector opens up a new customer market for food exports. The countries include Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Customers there confine their purchases exclusively to Halal dairy products. While Halal certification is not a statutory obligation there, foreign products and raw materials in particular are subject to very stringent controls.

Now EXIMO can add a further certificate to its gallery, alongside GMP - which was successfully recertified in June 2008 - and eco certification. What is more important, however, is the fact that the first Halal whey powder has been produced in Latvia and is already in containers on the high seas on its way to Malaysia.