Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan - Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) plans to set up a halal research centre that will bolster the Sultanate's push to make its halal brand the world's perfect choice by equipping the system with cutting-edge technology.

"We (also) need to carry out this halal business through... training and innovation to find solutions that can be used in the halal chain considering the factor of halalness and purity from the very beginning for halal products, such as the creation of halal fertilisers," said Dr Abd-El Aziem Farouk Gad, a Professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at UBD.

The university, he said, has already received expressions of interest from local banks and businessmen willing to pool funds to help finance the establishment of what will he called the Molecular Biotechnology and Halal Research Centre.

"Our agenda is to make Brunei a first stop for halal

industries in areas like environment, products as well as services," he said in an interview.

UBD has memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) for support in the halal centre project.

The centre, he said, will also be involved in conceptualising Brunei's system for the detection of halal food and meat.

"If you use the concept of science in our detection system, we want to create it at an international standard, (one that is) recognised by the world because of our detection and inspection system," he said. For now, his team uses facilities of the MIPR as well as the local university to carry out its halal research.

'We need more infrastructure. The set-up of the centre will become a platform to reach the objectives through innovation, commercialisation and thalallisation'," he said.

Details on the project's financial requirements and implementation time frame were not available.

Among projects under consideration include the development of a rice plantation using halal fertilisers and other farm inputs produced with biotechnology.

In the pipeline, moreover, is the research and possibly production of halal gelation using biotechnology.

"The world produces 285,000 tonnes of gelatin, (and) 42 per cent of the components that make up the gelatin is from pork as well as from non-halal animals," he said.

Gelation is also used to produce pharmaceutical capsules, also an area considered to be among the projects within the centre.

"What we can do for the country now is we can start training staff from the ministries and industries for Brunei and worldwide in the use of biotechnology in detection," he said. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times