Asia Sentinel Halal Probe Results in Abattoir’s Ban
But banning imports from one abattoir is not going to stop endemic industry corruption
By: Murray Hunter
The announcement by Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) that it has banned the importation of meat from the Thomas Foods International abattoir in Lobethal, South Australia – the subject of a horrific investigation outlined by Asia Sentinel on April 4 – isn’t enough to stop endemic corruption within the industry.
Corrupt bureaucrats and industry collaborators have compromised halal integrity for more than 270 million Muslim consumers across Asia and around the world who are eating meat that has been falsely certified as having been butchered in compliance with religious standards. Authorities in at least three countries are seemingly too timid to take on powerful religious authorities, and their superiors in supreme religious councils have also looked the other way.
The foreign certifying body (FCB), Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meat in Australia Inc (Sichma) has at this point only been given a show-cause letter when it clearly appears the organization was the primary culprit in the scandal, in which lambs were being drowned in their own blood prior to being butchered.
Singapore and Brunei are likely to make similar announcements to Malaysia later this week banning Thomas Foods. However, this doesn’t tackle the main issue within the halal meat industry, which is corruption by rogue officials…