India: Uttar Pradesh bans halal food certification

The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has banned food being certified as halal with immediate effect.

A notice issued by the Yogi Adityanath government has prohibited the production, storage, distribution and sale of food products with halal certification. This order, however, exempts products manufactured for export.

In a statement the government said the move was being taken to reduce “confusion” as the halal certification of food runs parallel to state food hygiene certification.”The right to decide the quality of food items lies only with the authorities and institutions given in Section 29 of the said Act, who check the relevant standards as per the provisions of the Act,” it said.

India does not have a mandatory halal certification system or a specific body to govern this. Some private companies give out halal certification, marking products permissible.

The Uttar Pradesh government said the move also comes following complaints that alleged a potential effort to lower the sale of goods not halal certified, claims a number of Muslim bodies have refuted as “baseless”, saying they will take “necessary legal measures” against such claims.

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