Muslim Consumer Group? Can they help Muslims here in Malaysia?

Yes, there is such a group catered specifically to help Muslims in determining and identifying Halal food and non-food products. Even though they are focused solely for Muslims in the United States but I do strongly believe that Muslims in Malaysia can also benefit a lot from their work. After all… Ever since the 80s, we have imported more and more food and non-food products from foreign countries. Not to mention that we also have more and more foreign food and non-food franchises coming here in Malaysia. I would normally visit their website at least once a week to keep up with their latest issues, news and alerts. I do feel glad that we have such a great group to help Muslims.

They are known as Muslim Consumer Group and were established in 1993 as a Halal food educational and certification organization, currently based in Huntley, Illinois. Based from their profile as published on their website, Muslim Consumer Group Board of Directors as of time of writing comprises of the following concerned professionals:

Quote: “Secretary Dr. Mohammed Bari of Salinas, CA, a PhD Entomologist from University of California, Davis working for Artichoke Growers of California. He assisted MCG in identifying the insect which secrete Shellac.

Dr. Iqbal Ahmed a veterinarian doctor, who recently retired from USDA, is an expert on animal slaughtering.

Br. Yousuf Ahmed, a BS in Management and holding food sanitation license from state of Illinois, helps MCG in Halal inspection. He works as a director of concession for Levy Restaurants Inc. a global food service company which provides foods at Sears Center, Chicago Cubs stadium and different sport arenas.

Br. Aamer Ahmed is a student of Computer Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago, helps in typing the Halal food books and helps MCG at IFT, ISNA conventions.

Br. Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed is the founder and President of MCG has a Master degree in Horticulture and another Master degree in Cereal Technology from North Dakota State University. He worked for Kraft Foods, Nabisco, General Foods, Domino Pizza, Prince Macaroni Company, Newly Weds Foods and MLO. He recently developed Orchard Fruit Bars for Starbucks besides developing 17 new food products for different food companies. He has extensive knowledge about the food ingredients/food products and spent most of his time in commercializing new products on various lines in food plants.”

By right, we do have a group that is supposed to look into such issues for Muslims here in Malaysia. That group is Halal JAKIM and falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM). Unfortunately, they are doing it the wrong way. They just wait for food and non-food manufacturers and producers to send in their Halal Certification applications and they would then either approve or rejects them. Do they really think that every food and non-food manufacturers would do that? Heck, they can print those Halal certificates on their own! They would also wait for Muslims like us to file complaints or raise questions on any suspicious food and non-food products. In another word, they are not taking the initiative to conduct research on their own. They just wait for issues to come to them while they are sitting comfortably in their nice cozy office. :-(

I strongly recommend Malaysian Malay (Melayu) Muslims and non-Malaysian Malay Muslims to do like what I have done in the last few years. Visit their website at least once a week and keep up with their latest news and alerts. Be a concerned Muslim for a change! I seriously hope that Muslims in Malaysia would be more concerned with the variety of food and non-food products that we have around us today. Why not use Muslim Consumer Group as part of your guide and reference on Halal food and non-food products. If you find that the Muslim Consumer Group has declared something as non Halal (Haram) or Mushbooh and that thing are available here in Malaysia, please ask Halal JAKIM to look into it as soon as possible. Give them some real work to do!

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