APEDA drops Halal from red meat manual

No more surreptitious promotion of Halal

The government has removed the word ‘Halal’ from its Red Meat Manual issued by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). A dispute arose about 6 months ago when the issue of the Red Meat Manual read as if it promotes Halal method as compulsory.

The older manual issued by APEDA read, “The animals are slaughtered strictly according to the ‘Halal’ method to meet the requirement of Islamic countries.”

Certain Hindu groups and Sikh organisations have maintained that the issue implies that APEDA was making it compulsory for exporters to purchase and acquire only ’halal-certified’ meat.

It was said that aside from Islamic countries in West Asia, India also exports meat to countries such as Sri Lanka and China, where “halal” certification is not needed.

After an intense dispute, the emphasis on the word ‘Halal’ has been removed and now the revised section reads: “There is no condition by the Government of India that only Halal Meat is to be exported. It is a requirement of the majority of importing countries/Importers. Halal Certification agencies are accredited directly by respective importing countries. No Government agency has any role in this,” APEDA tweeted last week.