Here's a site Muslims might find handy. You know sometimes you come across a food product like a chocolate bar or something and you're wondering if it's halal.
Usually you look for the Halal logo on the label. If it's there you can be fairly confident that it's okay to eat. But sometimes you wonder if the certification has expired or if the logo is genuine.
All you need to do is to surf to the Halal Jakim website, and click on the Halal Directory link. From the menu on the left hand side of the page click Barcode. Just enter the barcode of the product in question(this is usually a 13 figure number) and voila...you get the name of the product, the name of the manufacturer, the halal status and its expiry date.
If the product has no Jakim certification it will give a "no record found" message even if it has a certification from another Islamic body.
You can also do an enquiry on the list of halal products manufactured by a company by clicking on the Syarikat (Company) button. This will also give the details of the company like its office and e-mail address. This might come in handy in case you have a complaint or suggestion about a product.
But suppose you don't have a computer handy. And I don't think you would be lugging your laptop around with you when you're shopping at Giant or Carrefour unless you're an ultra nerd (in which case you would'nt be wasting your time shopping offline anyway).
Relax. Everyone's got a handphone, right? (Yes, even ultra nerds!). I have to salute Jakim for getting this spot on.
With SMS just type out HALAL<>(Barcode of product) and send to 32728(DAPAT). You'll get the Halal status of the product within a few seconds. Cool.
But watch out though. I still haven't found out the cost of each SMS sent or received.