Muslim move threat to NZ meat trade

Indonesia's highest authority on Islamic affairs, the Council of Ulema (MUI), has signalled a hard line on imports from New Zealand and other Western nations.

It plans to insist that all imported food labelled as halal is sold only if it has the council's own halal certification.

Islam has religious rules for halal food, including specific requirements for how animals should be slaughtered.

MUI's Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Assessment Institute is the sole issuer of halal certificates for such goods.

Ma'ruf Amin, one of the chairmen of the council, said many products imported from New Zealand - and other Western countries such as the United States and Australia - carried halal labels but the MUI did not always trust their certification standards.

Mr Ma'ruf told the Jakarta Globe the move was intended "to make sure that all products labelled halal are truly halal".

The announcement is in line with signals Indonesia gave last year that it would no longer recognise the two existing certification authorities in New Zealand, Islamic Meat Management and the Federation of Islamic Associations.

Trade Minister Tim Groser said at the time that the Indonesian plan to ban $100 million of New Zealand beef imports - and potentially $450 million worth of dairy exports - from 2010 required a long-term solution.

Since then, John Key's Government has announced that the Food Safety Authority will provide oversight for organisations which certify halal meat to "standardise" halal certification.

The oversight may yet be extended to dairy products.

- NZPA