Obtaining Halal certification for the product is not enough: if logistics are not compliant, the certificate loses its value the moment the goods leave the plant. In 2026 the SMIIC/OIC standards redefined the operational requirements for Halal storage and transport. Here is what an Italian agri-food company needs to check before shipping.
An Italian agri-food company invests months in the Halal certification process: supply chain audits, ingredient checks, plant inspections. Then it ships the product. And that is exactly when the greatest risk materialises: the refrigerated container shares space with non-compliant goods, the intermediate warehouse has no separation procedures, the carrier does not know what cross-contamination means from a Halal perspective. The product reaches its destination with a valid certificate, but its Halal integrity has already been compromised.
Halal logistics is not a niche topic: it is the stage where the value of the work done in production is either lost or preserved. In 2026, with the update of the relevant SMIIC/OIC guidelines, the operational requirements for storage, transport and distribution management were formalised more strictly. Companies that ignore this development risk having goods rejected at the customs of importing countries or losing contracts with buyers who require full supply chain audits.
Halal logistics covers the storage, transport, handling and distribution of certified products, so that the Halal compliance achieved in production is kept intact all the way to the point of sale or consumption. There are three fundamental principles:
For an Italian agri-food exporter, the concrete issues to address can be identified and resolved, but they require systematic work.
The cold store is the first point of attention. If a company uses a third-party cold store — a very common situation for Italian SMEs — it must check that the operator has written Halal separation procedures and is applying them. Asking verbally is not enough: a contractual agreement and, ideally, a documented inspection are needed.
Refrigerated transport presents a similar issue. Under Italian law, road and sea carriers are not required to adopt Halal procedures. But if the supply contract with the end customer requires Halal compliance across the whole chain, responsibility falls on the exporter. Carriers must be selected that can provide declarations of compliance or that are already certified.
The port and customs are a further critical step, especially for shipments to the Gulf, Malaysia and Indonesia, where documentary checks are systematic. A Bill of Lading that does not correctly reference the Halal certificate, or a mismatch between the certificate data and the physical product, can block the shipment.
Bringing logistics into compliance does not necessarily take long, but it must be structured. The essential steps are:
A recognised certification body such as HQC Italia, recognised in the main Islamic markets including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, can extend its assessment beyond the product and the plant to the logistics chain. This is particularly relevant for companies targeting markets where buyers require full supply chain audits as a condition of purchase.
Halal certification of logistics is a growing service precisely because importing markets are becoming more demanding: a label on the product is not enough, you need to show that the entire chain has maintained compliance.
Investing in Halal certification of the product without securing logistics is like building a solid building on unverified foundations. For an Italian agri-food company that exports or wants to export to Islamic markets, verifying the logistics supply chain is the natural next step — and often the one that makes the difference in commercial negotiations with a foreign buyer.
Source: Halal Times, "What Is Halal Logistics?", 11 September 2026 — halaltimes.com
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