Updated August 21, 2015 11:31:25

Photo: Halal meat is a growing market for Australian farmers.

An inquiry into halal certification is not warranted but could be useful in eradicating myths, says Australia's leading body for packaged food.

Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) is presenting at a Senate inquiry, which began today, exploring third party certification schemes, including organic, kosher and genetically modified products.

But the inquiry, which was prompted by Senator Cory Bernardi, has come to be known as the "halal inquiry".

Senator Bernardi said there were a range of people who did not like the religious slaughter of livestock or wanted the option of choosing products that were not subject to ritual slaughter.

He described certification fees as a "religious tax" and wanted to know how much consumers were paying when they bought certified products.

Further, he wanted to know where money paid for certification ended up, alleging overseas schemes had been linked to extremist organisations.

But AFGC chief executive Gary Dawson said much of the concern around halal certification were based on misinformation.

Asked whether there was a need for an inquiry at all, Mr Dawson said: "The short answer is no".

But the lobby group hoped media coverage of the inquiry could be useful in spreading positive messages.

"There is public debate about halal certification, it bubbles up in the media regularly, and so we would hope that this inquiry is an opportunity really to lay to rest some of the misinformation," Mr Dawson said.

"We've put in a comprehensive submission in the hope that some positive messages will come out of it."

Value of halal certification to the Australian economy

AFGC's main hope was to highlight the value of halal certification to the Australian economy.

"Australian food exports into Islamic societies right now total around $13 billion a year," Mr Dawson said.

"They're exports that either require or benefit from halal certification.

"Those exports underpin jobs and growth and often the jobs and growth are in regional Australia."

The Department of Agriculture, which will also present at the hearing today, said the global value of halal certified food in 2013 was US$1.1 trillion and was expected to increase to US$1.6 billion by 2018.

Mr Dawson rejected the suggestion Australian consumers' needs were being neglected because of export opportunities.

"That's clearly not true, because there's never been more choice and more options available, certainly in the food space, for Australian consumers," he said.

But Senator Bernardi, who declined an interview, previously stated that consumers were unable to make those choices.

"Even though some lamb, goat and chicken is slaughtered halal in this country, most isn't labelled appropriately," he wrote in a blog post.

Mr Dawson said there was "no need" for compulsory labelling.

"Just as there's no need for compulsory labelling of other certifications, it's a voluntary system," he said.

Consumers hit with a 'religious tax'

Senator Bernardi described halal certification schemes as "a racket", which could be funded by the unknowing or unwilling consumer.

The suggestion was that retailers could be passing the cost of certification on to consumers.

"I haven't been able to ascertain what the cost of this religious tax is to individual companies or the overall cost to the Australian consumer," he said.

AFGC's Gary Dawson said the claim was "just not true".

"In no way could you see this as a tax," he said.

"In terms of the domestic market, the cost is negligible and so again, this is misinformation.

"It doesn't change the nature of the product and, as with any certification scheme, there are choices made within companies as to what they label and what they don't and to suggest a negative motive is really just ill-informed."

Processors harassed by anti-halal campaigners

ABC Rural contacted nine processors and exporters of halal certified food, none of which agreed to an interview due to a fear of being targeted by activists.

One processor said it was receiving dozens of "hate letters" every week, another said trying to dispel myths "wasn't worth the attention".

The Boycott Halal in Australia page has attracted more than 81,000 followers and Mr Dawson said the movement was hurting businesses.

"There's no doubt that companies have been burned by the abusiveness of campaign tactics, quite ill-informed attacks over social media and so forth," he said.

"We would certainly be asking the committee to make it clear that those tactics really don't achieve anything and really run counter to the Australian notion of live and let live."

ABC Rural asks consumers what they want

Senator Bernardi has stressed the main reason for prompting an inquiry was because consumers wanted to make an informed choice about what they were eating.

So ABC Rural hit the streets of Horsham, in western Victoria, to ask people how they felt about eating halal food, possibly paying a bit extra for the certification process and whether they would want to read these details on a label.

Of the 15 people randomly selected, only five knew what halal food was.

"I've heard of it but I've not taken any notice of it," Matthew from Dimboola said.

"What's that?" Angie, from Horsham, asked.

Horsham's Ray McIntyre did not know what halal food was, and once he was informed, his approach to grocery shopping did not change.

"As far as religion goes, I'd still eat it," he said.

Consuming halal food was not an issue for Marian, from Queensland, but she did express concern about some media reports.

"I have read various things that suggest we might be supporting terrorism through halal certification and I've never actually read anything that definitively says that's correct or not," she said.

"If the issue hadn't been resolved about whether or not it was promoting terrorism, I probably would still buy the product if I really liked the product."

Wimmera locals Trevor and Jerry both said food quality and animal welfare issues were more important to them than whether a product was certified or not.

"As long as it's done humanely and the quality of the food's there," Trevor said.

"Around here, it's more about eating your local produce as best you can."

Topics: agricultural-prices, agricultural-policy, beef-cattle, sheep-production, poultry-and-egg-production, horsham-3400

First posted August 21, 2015 11:07:21