Nov 6, 2011

Brunei - How to look for halal cosmetics



A seminar to raise the awareness on the advancement of halal cosmetics and applying these for the development of the halal cosmetics in Brunei Darussalam was held by Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), through its Agriculture and Agrifood Department.

The seminar on "the Halal Science and Technology on Cosmetics" was facilitated by Kenji Takahashi, deputy general manager of Research and Development Department at Reinhalt Corporation in Japan.

In his presentation, the speaker talked about how modern science-based cosmetics could become non-halal for Muslims, with the use of animal collagen (protein) in the cosmetic products. Takahashi explained that components of cosmetics products among others were water, oil and fats, moisturizer, plant extract, preservative, thickener, stabiliser and perfume. However, he added, the current worldwide's cosmetics regulation do not require the cosmetics producers to specify in detail the contain of a cosmetics product on its label.

"In most cases the origin of raw materials are not indicated," said Takahashi.

Citing the use of collagen as a raw material may be derived from fish or pig as an example, he also mentioned other cosmetics products that use aloe extract as a raw material that may use ethanol when extracting the aloe ingredients. "Also, ethanol may be used as the preservative of the extract," he said.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, he said that for consumers who want to get halal cosmetic products in the markets, he suggested that they should avoid products contained with alcohol and animal extract, as well as to prevent the consumers from unsafe cosmetic products.

The 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have set the Asean Cosmetic Directive (ACD), to ensure safer and better cosmetics in the region.

According to the Asean official website, since 2008 all cosmetic products distributed in the Asean member states are required to comply with ACD, which places priority on safe cosmetics products. Under the ACD, the product has to be labelled with the full ingredient list, manufacturing or expiry date and special precautions.

In his talk, Takahashi also shared his views with the participants on how Brunei may look into the production of halal science-based cosmetics.

In the halal cosmetics, he said, only ingredients that face strict halal certification will be used. Ethanol and animal-derived ingredients will strictly not be used, he said.

Senior officers attended the seminar included Permanent Secretary at the MIPR Hjh Normah Suria Hayati PJDSM DSU (Dr) Hj Mohd Jamil Al-Sufri, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Development of Primary Resources) Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim as well officers from the ministry, the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Health and other government agencies and academic institutions.

Sally Piri
The Brunei Times



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