The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has edited its Red Meat Manual to remove “halal” specifications for products.
Accordingly, words like 'halal'/'halal method' have been deleted in the manual and replaced with “slaughter as per requirement of importing countries”.
Changes were made to sentences such as replacing “slaughtered strictly according to “Halal” method to meet the requirement of Islamic countries/Muslim countries” with “slaughtered according to the requirement of importing country/importer”.
A statement claiming animals are slaughtered according to Halal system as per Islamic Sharia tenets has also been deleted. For products such as gelatin bone chips the specification “through Halal method” has been deleted. In the process flow chart, “Halal” has been replaced by “slaughter.”
This comes amid pressure from right-wing Hindu groups and Sikh organisations against halal certification for products, Indian Express reported.
Sources told the paper the changes were made as previous wording created an impression that halal certification is mandatory for all meat exports.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify this.
APEDA clarified the Indian government does not mandate conditions for halal meat, but it was in place as a majority of importing countries require the certification.Harinder Sikka, an opponent of halal certification, has told the paper that it is “just one step” as halal meat is considered forbidden for Sikhs, adding they will continue their campaign. He added that halal certification had led to “loss of jobs for other communities” as the requirement kept them out of handling meat citing halal requirements.
Some Sikh groups also approached Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to stop halal meat on Air India flights.
Right-wing groups wrote to APEDA while accusing the government of “promoting halal meat” and said the removal of specifications from the manual would be the “first step in the right direction,” the report said.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member Vinod Bansal called it “halalanomics” adding: “it has captured the entire economy. If there is halal certification, there should be a jhatka certificate.”
Internationally, Islamic countries to which India exports buffalo meat import halal-certified meat only. In 2019-20, India exported Rs 22,668.48 crore worth buffalo meat to Vietnam (Rs 7,569.01 crore), Malaysia (Rs 2,682.78 crore), Egypt (Rs 2,364.89 crore), Indonesia (Rs 1,651.97 crore), Saudi Arabia (Rs 873.56 crore), Hong Kong (Rs 857.26 crore), Myanmar (Rs 669.20 crore) and the United Arab Emirates (Rs 604.47 crore), it added.