A brand owner picks a halal-certified factory, produces a product, prints the halal logo on the packaging — and finds the product is not covered. This happens, and one misunderstanding causes it.
Two documents, not one
In the Malaysian system, halal certification attaches to a product, not to a building. What a factory holds is a certification scope permitting it to manufacture under certain conditions. What lets your product carry the logo is a certificate for that product.
JAKIM's records make this visible. A company can hold the contract manufacturing category and list zero products in its own name:
| Contract manufacturing plants | Count |
|---|---|
| Hold the OEM category | 1822 |
| …listing no product certificates of their own | 221 |
Those plants manufacture entirely under their clients' certificates. Which means the certificate belongs to the client — not to the factory, and not to you automatically because you chose that factory.
Three possible arrangements
- You apply for your own product certificate. You hold it. You can take it to another factory later.
- The factory applies on your behalf. Common and legitimate — but ask in whose name the certificate is issued.
- Your product is made under the factory's existing certificate. Fastest, but your product is tied to that factory.
All three are acceptable. What is not acceptable is not knowing which one you are in.
The single question to ask
“In whose name will the halal certificate for my product be issued, and can I see the reference number once it is approved?”
A factory that answers clearly has done this before. A vague answer is itself the information.
How to check afterwards
Once approved, look your product up in our certificate check or directly in JAKIM's Halal Directory. If it is not there, it is not certified — whatever the packaging says.
Where these figures come from
Counts on this page are taken from JAKIM's own Halal Directory, captured on 8 August 2026, and regenerate whenever a fresh capture is loaded. Certification status changes; check any specific company against JAKIM's records before relying on it.