production, and ingredients compared to the cacao powder extracted from cacao beans. Hence, reviewing the ingredient formulas for the chocolate bar would be longer. The client company is always informed about this time frame as well as the associated cost in review. Although IFANCA is a not-for-profit, its food technologists are employees and their time is compensated. A longer ingredient evaluation process means food technologists will be paid for their time.Similarly, the size of the manufacturing process also affects the time and cost it takes to audit the company. Auditors are professional staff hired to assess the industrial production of the product. If the chocolate is handmade in a small enterprise of 1-2 people, naturally looking over their production facilities and advising proper changes will take much less time. However, if the same chocolate product is produced in 5 factory units, in huge volumes such as 100,000 bars a day, the time associated to review all the machinery, lubricants and packaging will take a much longer timeand the cost will reflect this.After a company has agreed with the timeline and procedure, the first step is to review all ingredients used to manufacture that product. This is called the Ingredient Review Stage. The in-house IFANCA food technologists trace the products suppliers and sources to track and verify if each ingredient used in the product is halal. Take for example the emulsifying agent lecithin, used to improve the texture of chocolate. Lecithin can be made from plant sources as well as animal sourcesand it is the job of the in-house food technology team to do the back-end research and determine if this chocolate producers lecithin supply is appropriate for Muslim consumption. IFANCAs food technology teams have food science or scientific degrees. They are trained in-house and work in teams. The ingredient review process is always divided between two reviewers. So going through each and every ingredient and their source is not enough once. It is done twice. According to Mr. Khan, halal certification is a matter of religion and trust which is why any possible mistakes are minimized by a twice over ingredient review.Another interesting fact is that companies, once certified, may not legally change ingredients in their formulas, nor sources of them, or the certification becomes null and void. If they anticipate a need for a change of ingredients or sources, they should notify IFANCA in advance in order to verify continued halal compliance and not jeopardize their halal certificate status.On Site AuditThe second part of the IFANCA halal certification process is a physical, on-site audit of the production facility. Physical audits and inspections apply to all products; from dairy to processed food, as well as pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Take the case of chocolate production. From the first machine where the raw cacao powder is filled in, the IFANCA auditor follows the various stages of production and the machinery involved to check for potential cross-contamination issues. This auditors review will also include checking cleaning supplies, product storage facility, and packaging materials. The auditors role is detecting problems and providing practical solutions