INTERPRETATION OF HALAL COSMETICS IN MALAYSIA 145 ISSUES AND FACTORS AFFECTING THE HALAL STATUS OF A COSMETIC PRODUCT In halal status verifi cation either for food, cosmetic, or pharmaceutical, etc., it is suggested to integrate the ingredient verifi cation with the halal supply chain (HSC) to ensure that halal products are not in the gray area. HSC is a process for ensuring that all raw materi- als of halal products and services are halal and tayyib in the supply chain or “from farm to fork.” Three main aspects to be emphasized are supply chain resources, supply chain network, and supply chain business processes (20). Therefore, the source of origin is a critical point and fundamental step in the halal cosmetic verifi cation. In each situation, the origin of raw materials is considered the critical aspects and high- lighted by a responsible authority such as JAKIM in Malaysia in the evaluation of halal logo application (10,16). All ingredients used in cosmetic products are examined thor- oughly by JAKIM offi cers. The specifi cations of halal ingredients are presented in Table II and must be fulfi lled to be acknowledged as halal cosmetics. Halal cosmetics must not contain ingredients derived from pig, carrion, blood, human body parts, predatory ani- mals, and reptiles, which all are known as haram components (16). This might be inter- esting to compare with the western world’s cosmetic industry, where a consensus has been reached not to use animal-derived ingredients at all. Further analyses of all eight conditions were based on the origin of ingredients and their uses. The specifi cation of halal extracted from Shariah law is related to specifi cation num- bers one to fi ve. Specifi cation number six is related to safety, specifi cations numbers seven and eight are included in the utilities and processing criteria, and all of them are part of tayyib elements. Halal is not standalone and must be followed with tayyib elements such as cleanliness, absence of fi lth, and does not contain hazardous or poisonous materials that affect health and well-being. One of the challenges in cosmetic products is to determine whether the ingredients of a product are derived from synthetic or natural sources. Generally, there are two main cat- egories of ingredients used in cosmetics, namely, active (functional) ingredient and ex- cipient (inactive or additional) ingredient. Functional ingredient is the main cosmetic substance that can give the desired effect or the stated claim of a product. For instance, products claimed to have whitening effect might use arbutin and kojic acid as their func- tional ingredients. On the other hand, excipient ingredients have versatile functions, and can be used as preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifi ers, thickeners, moisturizers, pigment agents, and fragrances. Besides that, some ingredients can be used as active or excipient ingredients depending on their functional effects on the product. For example, gelatine and collagen can be used as active ingredients in anti-ageing products or as excipients such as thickeners or emulsi- fi ers in other kinds of products. In addition, thousands of different ingredients can be used in a product, and this situation needs a competent, knowledgeable, and responsible person to evaluate the ingredients in halal and general cosmetic products for the safety and health risk aspects (11). Other than that, issues related to contaminants or trace ingredients are allowed because of technically unavoidable situations in the formulation or manufacturing process related to health hazards. In certain situations, the health hazard of cosmetic products is some- times neglected or ignored. Another concern is the limited information on the health effects of long-term exposure to certain ingredients in cosmetics due to the low numbers

JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 146 Table II The Specifi cation of Halal Cosmetic Ingredients Extracted from MS2634:2019 and Manual Procedure of JAKIM No Specifi cation MS2634 (16) Manual procedure for Malaysia Halal Certifi cation-JAKIM (10) 1 Not contain prohibited animal (and its derivatives) Do not consist of or contain any part of an animal that is prohibited by Shariah law and fatwa for the consumption of Muslims. Neither consist of nor contain any part or matter of an animal that is prohibited by Shariah law for the consumption of Muslims. 2 Slaughtered animal (and its derivatives) Any part of an animal that is slaughtered in accordance with Shariah law and fatwa. Any part of an animal that is not slaughtered in accordance with Shariah law and fatwa is prohibited. 3 Not contain najs Do not contain anything which is najs according to Shariah law and fatwa. Najs is a material that is impure according to Shariah law and fatwa. Do not contain anything which is impure/ najs according to Shariah law and fatwa. Najs means impurity such as blood, urine, and faeces. In Shariah law, najs means all impurities that nullify prayers. 4 Do not intoxicate Do not intoxicate according to Shariah law and fatwa. Do not intoxicate according to Shariah law and fatwa. 5 Do not contain part of human being Do not contain any part of a human being or its yield which is not allowed by Shariah law and fatwa. Do not contain any part of a human being or its yield which is not allowed by Shariah law and fatwa. 6 Not poisonous or hazardous Not poisonous or hazardous to health. Not poisonous or hazardous to health. 7 Not contaminated with najs Not prepared, processed, or manufactured using any instrument that is contaminated with najs according to Shariah law and fatwa. Not prepared, processed, or manufactured using any instrument that is contaminated with najs according to Shariah law and fatwa. 8 Process not mixes with prohibited items Not in the course of preparation, processing, or storing been in contact with, mixed, or close to any materials that fail to satisfy items (1) and (2). Not in the course of preparing, processing, or storage been in contact with, mixed, or close to any foods that fail to satisfy paragraph numbers (1) and (2). of studies related to long-term effect (15,21). This is the reason why safe products are the basic requirement of regulatory, halal, and quality control parameters in producing cos- metic products (16,19). There is no problem if the material used is safe and its effectiveness is proven, but the concern is on the use of restricted or prohibited materials such as heavy metals. There were frequent reports on cosmetic product violations related to the prohibited ingredi- ents found in the cosmetic that impacted safety thus, there is the need to obtain informa- tion from the regulation and manufacturers’ compliance perspectives. This situation indicates that sometimes the halal status of products is questionable because of the use of ingredients such as hydroquinone and steroids as active ingredients which are highly toxic, especially after prolonged applications (21–27).