“OIC/SMIIC Halal Products Standards and Testing” training course was held between 25-29 September 2023 in Bangladesh, the first time in South East Asia in collaboration with our respected partners as the organs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), COMSTECH Secretariat and Islamic University of Technology in Dhaka, Bangladesh (IUT) with an aim to encourage the harmonization of halal standards used in the OIC Member States and internationally by aiding in the adoption and use of the OIC/SMIIC halal standards.
The training was attended by the participants both in-person and online. The Vice Chanceller, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr. Omar Jah of, the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh, welcomed the participants and the experts. The Secretary General of SMIIC, Mr. İhsan ÖVÜT, and the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary addressed the inaugural session of the training. Both the dignitaries presented information on the detailed activities of their organizations.
The official opening of the training course was honored by the attendance of Mr. Md. Abdus Sattar Director General, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI)as well as the Chief Guest, H.E. Mr. Haji Haris bin Haji Othman, High Commissioner, High Commission of Brunei Darussalam in Bangladesh, and special guest, H.E. Mr. Abdulaziz Fahad M. Alibrahim, Deputy Ambassador, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh
The training course included the following technical sessions:
OIC/SMIIC 1:2019 – General Requirements for Halal Food
Auditing of Testing Labs in line with OIC/SMIIC 35 – Conformity Assessment – General Requirements for the Competence of Laboratories Performing Halal Testing.
The Testing Procedures standards such as the Test Method for detection of porcine in Food Products (meat, processed food, and gelatin) are being chosen by the SMIIC TC1 Technical Committee for Halal food issues.
The first day of the training program was a general halal awareness day which was attended by more than 100 people. Topics on the first day included an introduction to SMIIC, standardization, quality infrastructure, conformity assessment, SMIIC accreditation council, halal food, halal cosmetics, halal pharmaceuticals, halal testing laboratories requirements, and analytical challenges of testing haram ingredients.
OIC/SMIIC 1 training was attended in hybrid mode by around 80 (eighteen) students from different 10(Ten) Asian countries while OIC/SMIIC 35 training was attended by around 20 students from different 7( seven) Asian countries especially from, Brunei, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia, and Thailand.
We would like to thank the Islamic University of Technology (IUT) in Bangladesh for their excellent service and hospitality, and COMSTECH who so generously helped us make this event come together smoothly.
We would like to express SMIIC’s gratitude to the organizers of International Medical College Hospital (IMCH), which hosted the last two days of the training at their facilities where the practical part was conducted in their PCR laboratories.
