In short
- JAKIM's domestic certification has nine schemes, and each is audited against its own Malaysian Standard
- MS 1500:2019 covers food products and food premises; cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, logistics and medical devices each have a separate standard
- Choosing the wrong scheme gets the application rejected, so the choice comes before the form
- Some products cannot be certified at all, including unprocessed fresh produce and products with no halal question
Most businesses ask which standard applies to them. The better question is which certification scheme, because the scheme decides the standard, the fee schedule, the prerequisites, the validity period and the staffing you need. The standard is the audit yardstick and the scheme is the route.
The nine schemes
JAKIM's domestic manual opens certification to these schemes: food and beverage products, cosmetic products, pharmaceutical products, food premises, consumer goods, logistics services, slaughterhouses, contract manufacturing (OEM) and medical device products. The manual lists exactly these nine, and an application has to be placed in the right one. An application under the wrong scheme or category is rejected.
The standard behind each
| Scheme | Standard | Manual reference |
|---|---|---|
| Food and beverage | MS 1500:2019 | page 31 |
| Cosmetics | MS 2634:2019 | page 32 |
| Pharmaceuticals | MS 2424:2019 | page 33 |
| Logistics services | MS 2400-1:2019; MS 2400-2:2019; MS 2400-3:2019 | page 41 |
| Food premises | MS 1500:2019 | page 34 |
| Medical devices | MS 2636:2019 | page 53 |
Source: JAKIM, Manual Prosedur Pensijilan Halal Malaysia (Domestik) 2020, Prosedur 19 · edition of 2020
Three schemes have no industry page on this site. The manual names their standards as follows.
| Scheme | Standard or legislation named in the manual |
|---|---|
| Consumer goods | MS 2200-2:2013 Islamic Consumer Goods, Part 2: Usage of Animal Bone, Skin and Hair; MS 2565:2014 Halal Packaging; MS 2594:2015 Halal Chemicals For Use In Potable Water Treatment (whichever is relevant) |
| Slaughterhouses | MS 1500:2009 Halal Food: Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage (Second Revision); MS 1500:2019 Halal Food: General Requirements (Third Revision); and animal, slaughterhouse and food legislation |
| Contract manufacturing (OEM) | The Malaysian Standard that applies to the product category being manufactured, plus current legislation |
Source: JAKIM, Manual Prosedur Pensijilan Halal Malaysia (Domestik) 2020, pages 39 to 51 · edition of 2020
MS 1500:2019 is the central one. It is the standard for food products and for food premises, so it governs a factory, a restaurant and a cloud kitchen alike. Each of the other schemes is audited against its own standard, and most also require licences from another regulator first. Those prerequisites are on the sector pages for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and logistics, and in our guide to non-food sectors.
Choosing between schemes
Four situations catch people out.
Food manufacturer with a shop or cafe. The factory and the outlet are different schemes. A premises that has a central kitchen must hold a food and beverage product certificate for the kitchen first. The restaurant page covers the premises side.
Contract manufacturer. The contract manufacturing scheme certifies the manufacturer's operation. It is not a halal certificate for the products. Every product that wants to carry the halal logo has to apply under its own scheme. See contract manufacturing.
Logistics. Transport, warehousing and retailing are three parts of the logistics scheme, each with its own MS 2400 part. Which parts you need depends on what you actually operate.
Hotels and catering. They are food premises, but they have their own fee schedules, staffing and kitchen rules. See hotels and catering.
Consumer goods and processing aids
The consumer goods scheme is the catch-all for products that fit nowhere else, and it is narrower than it sounds. It exists for products where the source of a material is in doubt, and for processing aids used in manufacturing under another halal scheme.
| Condition | What the manual says |
|---|---|
| Finished or semi-finished products | Products that benefit consumers other than food and beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, or products with no specific certification scheme |
| Doubt over the source | There is doubt over the source of manufacturing materials or ingredients, which may be halal or not, such as leather goods, cleaning agents and water filters |
| Processing aids | Or the product is used as a processing aid in manufacturing under a Malaysian halal scheme, such as bleaching earth, alum and gases |
| No confusion | Certifying it halal must not cause confusion |
| Approval | Subject to the approval of the competent authority |
Source: JAKIM, Manual Prosedur Pensijilan Halal Malaysia (Domestik) 2020, page 39 · edition of 2020
What cannot be certified
Some products are excluded regardless of scheme, and the list is worth reading before you spend on a gap analysis.
| Not eligible | What the manual says |
|---|---|
| Mixed halal and non-halal operations | A company that produces or distributes both halal and non-halal products, including food delivery services |
| Shared brand | The same brand used for both halal and non-halal products or services (as it applies in Malaysia) |
| No reference standard | Products or services with no standard or guideline to certify against |
| Unprocessed natural products | Fresh fish, vegetables and eggs and the like, with no processing, modification, packaging or labelling |
| Misleading names | Names that refer to or resemble non-halal products, such as ham, bak kut teh, bacon, beer, rum, hot dog or char siew |
| Relabelled finished goods | Finished products, local or imported, relabelled without any processing in Malaysia |
| Early-stage R&D | Products still in research and development and not yet ready to commercialise |
| Pork on the hotel menu | A hotel with a kitchen that prepares or serves pork-based menus |
| Products with no halal question | Products that need no halal certification or could cause confusion if certified, such as fertiliser, paper, cement, tiles, insecticide and carpets |
Source: JAKIM, Manual Prosedur Pensijilan Halal Malaysia (Domestik) 2020, pages 11 and 12 · edition of 2020
If you are unsure where your product sits, describe it to us. We will tell you which scheme it falls under, or whether it is eligible at all, before you start.
Next: what JAKIM certification is, or how to make the application.