SANHA

South African National Halaal Authority

Founded in 1996, SANHA is a non-profit halaal certification authority headquartered in Durban, with additional offices in Gauteng and the Western Cape. It's a founding member of the World Halal Council, giving its certification international standing beyond South Africa's borders, and holds accreditation with GAC (Gulf Accreditation Center) and registration with ESMA (UAE), making SANHA-certified products more readily accepted for export into Gulf markets. SANHA certifies a broad range of categories — food, food ingredients, cosmetics, nutritional products, and pharmaceuticals — and offers two distinct certification tracks: a Local Certification Scheme for South African businesses not exporting to the GCC region, and a Global Certification Scheme for businesses that are. Certification isn't a one-time stamp: SANHA conducts ongoing, often unannounced inspections after the initial audit to ensure standards are maintained, and the SANHA logo itself is a registered trademark — certified businesses must use it under written authorization and can't display it alongside products or names referencing pork, alcohol, or other non-halaal connotations.