On Friday, the government decided to give more time, extending it until April 5, 2024, for halal certification bodies to get accredited and export units to register.
Earlier this year, on April 6, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) established rules for halal certification for meat and meat products.
Existing bodies were told to seek accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) for i-CAS (Indian Conformity Assessment Scheme) Halal within six months.
The DGFT, a part of the ministry handling export and import matters, explained in a notification that the timeframe for accrediting halal certification bodies and registering export units has been extended by six months, now concluding on April 5, 2024.
As per the guidelines, meat and its products can only be exported as ‘halal certified’ if they are produced, processed, and packaged in a facility with a valid certificate issued by a body accredited by the Quality Council of India’s board.
They need to seek accreditation from NABCB. The products covered under the notification include meat from bovine animals, fish, chilled meat of sheep and goats, sausages, and similar meat products.
To make the certification of meat and meat products as halal more efficient in the country, a scheme called ‘India Conformity Assessment Scheme (i-CAS)’ has been introduced.
Before this, India did not have a mandatory government-regulated halal certification system, as there is no national regulation for certification.
The global halal food market was valued at $197.8 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $3,907.7 billion by 2027.
In India, the halal industry is still in its early stages, with no specific labeling requirements for halal food products imported into the country.
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