17 Malaysian Halal Agencies and What Each One Actually Does (2026)

Malaysia has no single official page listing the bodies involved in halal. JAKIM's portal lists JAKIM. The National Halal Policy portal that once named them together no longer exists. So a manufacturer works it out one dead link at a time.

This is that list. Seventeen organisations, what each one actually decides, and whether you have to deal with it at all. Every address below was opened and checked on 8 August 2026.

Three things the industry repeats wrongly

1. Only JAKIM and the state Islamic Religious Councils can issue a Malaysian halal certificate. Not SIRIM, not HDC, not any private company. SIRIM QAS's own website does not mention halal certification anywhere.
2. NPRA and the Ministry of Health come before halal, not after. A factory can hold a valid halal certificate and still be selling a product that was never notified — which is illegal regardless.
3. JAKIM grants the certificate; KPDN prosecutes its misuse. Most manufacturers know the first half.

At a glance

The bodies that can issue a halal certificate

Only JAKIM and the state Islamic Religious Councils. No private company, no other certification body.

JAKIM — Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia)

• Website: www.islam.gov.my
• Sits under: Prime Minister's Department
• Must you deal with it? Required

The federal halal competent authority. Its Halal Management Division (Bahagian Pengurusan Halal, BPH) checks application documents, audits products and premises, issues the Malaysian halal certificate and licenses the Halal Malaysia logo, verifies foreign slaughterhouses, and recognises foreign halal certification bodies.

The old name is gone: the "Halal Hub Division" was split on 3 December 2018 into BPH and the Malaysia Halal Council Secretariat. A consultant still saying "Halal Hub" is describing a structure that no longer exists.

Link warning: www.jakim.gov.my is dead — the domain has no DNS record at all. The live JAKIM portal is islam.gov.my.

Portal Halal Malaysia / MYeHALAL — Official Halal Malaysia Portal

• Website: www.halal.gov.my
• Sits under: JAKIM
• Must you deal with it? Required

JAKIM's operational portal: the MYeHALAL online application, halal status verification search (food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medical devices), the recognised foreign certification body list, circulars, and the e-Aduan complaints channel.

This is where an application is physically submitted. Note that myehalal.halal.gov.my now redirects to halal.gov.my — many guides still link it as if it were a separate system.

JAIN & MAIN — State Islamic Religious Departments & State Islamic Religious Councils

• Website: www.jais.gov.my
• Sits under: Their respective state governments
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

Two different things, not synonyms. JAIN is the state Islamic religious Department — the operational and audit arm (JAIS in Selangor, for example). MAIN is the state Islamic religious Council, the statutory religious authority.

Why the states are directly involved: Islam is a state matter under the Federal Constitution, not a federal one. Under the Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Halal) Order 2011, the authorities empowered to certify are JAKIM and the state MAIN. In practice JAKIM coordinates while the JAIN carries out state-level audits.

13 states + 3 federal territories = 16 jurisdictions. JAKIM covers KL, Putrajaya and Labuan directly. The link above is JAIS (Selangor) as an example; we did not verify all 13 state sites individually.

Standards and accreditation

They write the rules and test the product. They do not certify halal.

Standards Malaysia (JSM) — Department of Standards Malaysia

• Website: www.jsm.gov.my
• Sits under: MITI
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

The national standards body and the national accreditation body. JSM develops and publishes the MS halal standards — it does not certify anyone halal. It also accredits laboratories and certification bodies.

The core standard: MS 1500 — Halal food: production, preparation, handling and storage. The current edition is MS 1500:2019 (replacing MS 1500:2009). It is the technical backbone of JAKIM's food certification. The MS 2200 series covers Islamic consumer goods including cosmetics, and the MS 2400 series covers transportation, warehousing and retailing.

You must comply with these to be certified, so you need to buy them from JSM. But you apply to JSM for nothing halal.

SIRIM — SIRIM Berhad / SIRIM QAS International Sdn Bhd

• Website: www.sirim-qas.com.my
• Sits under: Minister of Finance Incorporated
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

The national standards-development agency and a testing provider. SIRIM QAS International offers management system certification (ISO 9001 and so on), product certification, product testing, inspection and personnel certification.

SIRIM does not issue halal certificates. SIRIM QAS's own site does not mention halal certification anywhere, which is consistent with the legal position that only JAKIM and the state MAIN may certify halal in Malaysia. Anyone offering "SIRIM halal certification" is wrong.

You may deal with SIRIM for laboratory testing or ISO certification a customer asks for — not for halal.

Product regulators — before halal is even relevant

A halal certificate does not replace a product licence. A factory can be halal-certified and still selling an illegal product.

NPRA — National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency

• Website: www.npra.gov.my
• Sits under: Ministry of Health Malaysia (KKM)
• Must you deal with it? Required

Regulatory control of medicinal products and cosmetics. A manufacturer must go to NPRA for:

• Cosmetic notification — every cosmetic product must be notified before it reaches the market. NPRA can and does cancel notifications.
• Product registration for pharmaceuticals, traditional medicines and health supplements, through the QUEST3+ system.
• Manufacturing licences and GMP compliance.

This comes before halal, not after it. No notification number means no legal product — and a halal certificate does not substitute for one. A factory can be halal-certified and still be selling an unnotified product.

KKM — BKKM — Food Safety and Quality Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia

• Website: www.moh.gov.my
• Sits under: Ministry of Health Malaysia
• Must you deal with it? Required

Administers and enforces the Food Act 1983 and the Food Regulations 1985 — food safety, labelling, additives, food premises inspection, sampling, and import food control.

Also upstream of halal. JAKIM's halal audit assumes you already meet Food Act requirements.

Link warning: fsq.moh.gov.my is dead — no DNS record. Recent guides still cite it. We could not find a working standalone URL for BKKM; use moh.gov.my.

Animal, meat and border control

Relevant if you slaughter, process meat, or import animal-origin material.

DVS — Department of Veterinary Services

• Website: www.dvs.gov.my
• Sits under: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM)
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

The clearest agency-to-agency mechanism in the whole system: for a foreign abattoir or poultry plant to supply Malaysia, DVS and JAKIM conduct a JOINT inspection. DVS assesses animal health and food safety; JAKIM assesses halal compliance. Only when both approve does the plant join Malaysia's authorised plant list.

Each consignment then needs an import licence, a veterinary health certificate, and a halal certificate from a JAKIM-recognised body.

Mandatory if you slaughter, process meat or poultry, or import animal-origin raw material. Irrelevant to a purely cosmetic plant — except that animal-derived ingredients such as gelatine, collagen or glycerin pull you straight back in.

MAQIS — Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services

• Website: www.maqis.gov.my
• Sits under: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM)
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

The authority under the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Act 2011 (Act 728), operational since 1 March 2013. It controls the import of anything biological — food, live animals, plants, soil, microorganisms — and issues import and export permits, notably for meat and milk.

MAQIS is not a halal body and its site does not mention halal at all. Its relevance is indirect but real: it is the gate your halal-certified raw material physically passes through, and a missing MAQIS permit stops a consignment regardless of halal status.

Enforcement

JAKIM grants the certificate. This is who prosecutes its misuse.

KPDN — Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living

• Website: www.kpdn.gov.my
• Sits under: A ministry in its own right
• Must you deal with it? Optional

This is the body that actually prosecutes halal offences, and manufacturers routinely do not know it.

KPDN enforces the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 and its two halal orders, in force since 1 November 2011. Those orders (a) define "halal" in law, (b) restrict the issuing of halal certification to JAKIM and the state MAIN, and (c) make it an offence to display a halal logo or halal description without valid certification.

There is no application to make. But you are exposed to it the moment you use the word "halal". JAKIM grants the certificate; KPDN raids you for misusing it.

Trade, investment and industry development

Promotional, not regulatory. None of them can certify you.

MITI — Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry

• Website: www.miti.gov.my
• Sits under: A ministry in its own right
• Must you deal with it? Optional

The policy ministry. HDC, MATRADE, MIDA, SME Corp and Standards Malaysia all sit under MITI — meaning MITI houses both the halal promotion machinery and the standards machinery, while certification stays with JAKIM under the Prime Minister's Department.

Name warning: MITI was formerly the Ministry of International Trade and Industry; it was renamed in December 2023 to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry. The acronym did not change, which is why the old expansion survives everywhere — including on some official pages.

HDC — Halal Development Corporation Berhad

• Website: hdcglobal.com
• Sits under: MITI
• Must you deal with it? Optional

HDC certifies nothing. It is an industry development agency: training, consultancy, business matching, investment and export facilitation, and the Halal Industry Master Plan. It also runs the HALMAS halal park scheme.

You never need HDC to get certified. It is relevant only if you want HALMAS park tax incentives, grants or export handholding. Many consultants blur this distinction.

Name warning: formerly Halal Industry Development Corporation Sdn Bhd. Both names still circulate.

MATRADE — Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

• Website: www.matrade.gov.my
• Sits under: MITI
• Must you deal with it? Optional

Export promotion: market intelligence, trade events, export financial assistance, and an exporter directory. MATRADE organises MIHAS, Malaysia's international halal showcase.

Optional, not obligatory — useful for export grants and buyer matching.

MIHAS — Malaysia International Halal Showcase

• Website: www.mihas.com.my
• Sits under: Hosted by MITI, organised by MATRADE
• Must you deal with it? Optional

Malaysia's largest halal trade show. The 22nd edition is scheduled for 23–26 September 2026 at MITEC Kuala Lumpur, across 14 industry segments.

For a contract manufacturer this is where brand owners gather — its value is buyer matching, not compliance.

MIDA — Malaysian Investment Development Authority

• Website: www.mida.gov.my
• Sits under: MITI
• Must you deal with it? Sometimes

Investment promotion, manufacturing licence approvals, and tax incentives. It administers investment incentives for halal-related manufacturing, including those attached to the HALMAS parks.

You deal with it for a manufacturing licence and if claiming incentives. Incentive terms change with every budget — confirm directly with MIDA before relying on any figure.

SME Corp — SME Corporation Malaysia

• Website: www.smecorp.gov.my
• Sits under: MITI
• Must you deal with it? Optional

The central coordinating agency for SMEs: development programmes, grants and capacity building, including support for SMEs building halal export capability.

We could not verify from SME Corp itself whether a specific halal certification grant is currently open. Ask them directly rather than relying on third-party grant listings.

Research, training and testing

Optional, but the laboratory settles real disputes.

INHART (IIUM) — International Institute for Halal Research and Training, IIUM

• Website: institute.iium.edu.my/inhart
• Sits under: International Islamic University Malaysia
• Must you deal with it? Optional

Halal research, postgraduate programmes, customised industry training, and the INHART Laboratory, which provides analytical testing on halal and toyyiban parameters — porcine DNA and alcohol detection among them.

The lab is practically useful: ingredient authentication testing is often what settles a halal audit query. INHART does not issue halal certificates.

Link warning: the old address inhart.iium.edu.my is completely dead, but still looks live in search results.

One name that is easy to mistake

halalmalaysia.org is not a government body. It is run by a private company selling training and consultancy, and it claims to issue its own halal certification.

The .org domain and the name "Halal Malaysia" — which is also the name of JAKIM's official certification scheme — make it very easy to take for the government. Any certificate it issues is not a JAKIM Malaysia halal certificate.

We raise it not to accuse anyone, but because under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 only JAKIM and the state MAIN may certify halal in Malaysia. That distinction matters to anyone choosing a consultant.

Official addresses that no longer work

These still appear in search results, and in guides published recently. None of them resolves. If a consultant or an article sends you to one, that source has not been checked in a long time.

What we could not verify

• The current editions of the MS 2200 and MS 2400 standard series. Our part numbers date from 2010–2013 compilations; buy the current text from Standards Malaysia before relying on it.
• A working standalone address for the Ministry of Health's Food Safety and Quality Division.
• Any Malaysian halal industry association or professional body. The halal executive role is real and required by JAKIM's scheme, but we could not confirm which body, if any, licenses the designation.
• Whether any SME Corp halal certification grant is currently open.

Each of those is stated as unverified rather than filled in with a plausible answer.

This page will go out of date

Malaysian ministries and agencies are restructured often. MITI was renamed in December 2023, JAKIM's Halal Hub Division was split in 2018, HDC has been renamed and was in merger discussions as recently as May 2025, and the agriculture ministry changed name in December 2022. Every address here was checked on 8 August 2026; we re-check them and update this date.