According to the Australian Food and Grocery Council, halal foods must be "free from any substance taken or extracted from a haram animal or ingredient (e.g. pigs, dogs, carnivorous animals, animals not slaughtered in compliance with Islamic rites); [be] made, processed, manufactured and/or stored by using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that has been cleaned according to Islamic law (e.g. not cleaned with alcohol); and [be] free from contact with, or being close to, a haram substance during preparation, manufacture, processing and storage (e.g. blood, alcohol, poisonous and intoxicating plants and insects such as worms [sic] and cockroaches).
[7] The federal Department of Agriculture approves the certification of halal food for export to Islamic countries.
[10][11] The Royal Commission said that halal certification monopolies should be avoided and that fees charged should "not be seen as a way of raising revenue for other Muslim purposes unconnected with the meat industry.
[13] For approval, Indonesia specifies that there be both a scientist and an expert in Islamic law working within the Australian organisation seeking halal accreditation.
The investigators said they were satisfied with the certification processes of ICCV and SICHMA and said there was great potential in working with these two organisations in the future.
[19] As at March 2017 there were 22 Islamic groups approved by the federal government to issue halal certificates for export.
[22] It states that the prices vary "depending on the product involved, the organisation from which certification is sought and whether the goods are for export or domestic consumption.
[7] While research undertaken by Meat & Livestock Australia supports the use of pre-slaughter stunning,[27] Ikebal Patel, the then-president of AFIC, believes, "the jury is still out".
[31] Mis-use of trade marks can lead to legal penalties: In a 2014 court case, HCAA successfully sued a meat supplier which had provided a certificate to two kebab shops which included the authority's trade mark and wrongly claimed that it had certified the meat.
[38] Keysar Trad from the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils told a journalist in July 2014 that "hate groups" were attempting to exploit anti-Muslim sentiments.
[42] Commenting on this, a spokesman for Kellog's said, “As most of our cereals are plant-based, they’re inherently halal, so we chose not to renew our certification...This was a commercial decision, not the result of any public pressure or backlash.
It recommended that the federal government increase its oversight of domestic halal certifiers to address fraudulent conduct in the sector.
"[47] The inquiry examined claims that fees charged by halal certifiers are used to fund terrorism and found that no evidence supports them.