SMIIC Secretary General, H.E. İhsan Övüt and his accompanying delegation visited the headquarters of the Central Islamic Council of Thailand (CICOT) on 17 December 2018 and met H.E. Pol. Maj. Gen. Surin Palarae, Secretary General of Committee of The Central Islamic Council of Thailand (CICOT).
CICOT is a governmental organization responsible for the certification, monitoring, and supervision of Halal products in Thailand as well as in charge with the Islamic Affairs of the Muslim Thai people. Kingdom of Thailand is an observer State of SMIIC and is being represented by CICOT together with Halal Standards Institute of Thailand (HSIT).
During the meeting, both sides exchanged the ideas on the halal certification activities of CICOT, the use of OIC/SMIIC standard throughout the certification process in Thailand as well as the technical activities of SMIIC in the upcoming term.
Mr. Övüt also visited the headquarters of Halal Science Center Chulalongkorn University (HSC-CU) as well as Halal Standard Institute of Thailand (HSIT). SMIIC Secretary General was welcomed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Winai Dahlan, Founding Director of the HSC-CU and Dr. Pakorn Priyakorn, Director of HSIT.
The Halal Science Center is an instructional center and network of laboratories in Thailand dedicated to maintaining the standards of halal. Center analyzes food for contaminants not compatible with the law of Islam and conducts research into new methods of food preparation and new reagents for detecting such contaminants. It also provides information and training to the public and to the food service industry related to the preparation of food in accordance with Islamic law, including offering a bachelor's degree in nutrition and dietetics. During the visit, SMIIC delegation had the chance to visit the laboratories and Dr. Dahlan explained in the detail on the facilities provided by the center.
Halal Standard Institute of Thailand is mandated to ensure that the development and certification of halal food standards complies with the provisions of the Islamic Religion and correspond to international standards so that it is trusted and accepted by local and international public, food producers and consumers which will therefore promote and increase the competitiveness of the country’s Halal food industry and to protect Islamic consumers locally. During the visit, Dr. Priyakorn provided information to the SMIIC delegation on the standardization activities within the Institute. SMIIC Secretary General thanked to the Dr. Priyakorn for the active representation and participation of Thai delegation in the SMIIC Technical Committee activities.
