Branded foods and beverages group, Clover, will no longer be halaal certified in August as the Muslim Judicial Council Halaal Trust takes action against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israeli goods and services.
The Trust announced this week that no Clover products have been certified as halaal since January 1, but that stock bearing the logo will run out by August.
Speaking to the Weekend Argus, Moulana Zakariyah Philander, the Trust’s chief operations officer, explained that the decision was not made overnight, and that nine months were set aside to phase out their logos.
The Trust stated in their public notice that as of January 1, 2024, they would no longer certify Clover as halaal. Clover was purchased by Milco, a consortium led by Israeli beverage firm Central Bottling Company in 2019.
Philander stated that they already had a spreadsheet of previously removed product logos.
He explained that the MJC Halaal Trust made a policy decision had to decide where it stood on BDS, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.
He added that a very clear statement had been released at that time, making the Trust’s position evident.
“Towards the end of the year, we started the process when doing renewals for the new year.”
Philander said they had met with the executives of Clover, who came to an understanding about the decision and that a period would be given to phase out their logos.
“We had to take this policy into consideration as part of the work processes. The company affected by this process was Clover, who fall directly into what the policy is talking about,” he added.
Clover is expected to respond to the matter in due course.
In October 2023, when Palestinian political group Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel triggered a siege by the Israel Defence Forces that claimed nearly 35,000 Palestinian lives, the Trust announced that it would adopt a policy of not certifying any goods or services emanating from Israel and boycotting Israeli businesses.
Ten years ago, it announced that it would certify new Clover products in response to questions and concerns about why they did not bear the halaal logo.
Concerns had previously been raised about the gelatine content of Clover fresh creams, but after a thorough manufacturing investigation, it was confirmed that the product had been certified.
Article written by Murray Swart for Cape Town ETC.
ALSO SEE:
Feature Image: Murray Swart
