Veteran entrepreneur Dick Smith has declared halal certifying his Australian yeast spread OzEmite would make it too expensive for supermarkets.

A jar of OzEmite is already 22 per cent more expensive than Vegemite, which is halal certified under a scheme which funds Islamic schools and mosques.

The 73-year-old businessman and philanthropist said paying a third-party certifier to declare his product was fit for Muslims to eat would be a commercial disaster.

'It would probably be some tens of thousands of dollars, a huge amount of money,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Entrepreneur Dick Smith says halal certification of OzEmite would make it too expensive

'It would increase the price of the product even slightly and that could be the difference between Coles or Woolworths stocking our product or dumping it.'

With Muslims making up 2.6 per cent of the Australian population, Mr Smith said no one had ever specifically asked for a product that contained no traces of pork or alcohol.

'We want to keep the overheads down and I've never had anyone actually approach us and say we should have halal certification. I've never had anyone requesting that,' he said.

The entrepreneur, who founded Dick Smith Foods in 1999, was unable to say exactly how much the halal certification fees his business could have ended up paying.

However, a Senate inquiry into the halal certification industry in 2015 found that fees ranged from $500 a year for small farms to more than $300,000 a year for a much larger business.

A jar of OzEmite in Coles sells for $2.95 per 100 grams, which is already 22 per cent more expensive than Vegemite at $2.42.

That means a 175 gram jar of OzEmite sells for $5.20 compared with $3.65 for a slightly smaller 150 gram jar of Vegemite, even though it pays a halal certification fee to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

A jar of OzEmite is already 22 per cent more expensive than a jar of Vegemite per 100 grams

Dick with some yeast: Vegemite's key competitor was previously known as DickiMite

OzEmite's key competitor Vegemite pays a halal certification fee to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils which funds the Malek Fahd Islamic School in Sydney's west

Dick Smith Foods, which was set up to specifically support Australian jobs with a range of spreads and sauces, lost a patriotic advantage in January when Australian-owned Bega Cheese bought Vegemite from American multinational Mondelez.

Mondelez also owns Cadbury chocolates, which is halal certified in Australia.

Mr Smith said his refusal to pay halal certification fees meant more Australians could be employed in other companies, that provide a wholesale product marketed by Dick Smith Foods.

Dick Smith Foods sells a range of spreads, sauces and cereals to support Australian jobs

'Our price is expensive enough because we're paying Australian wages and we don't want to put the price up even more,' he said.

'That was the only reason that I didn't go with halal certification because that would have put an extra cost on and meant we would get less sales to help Australian producers and farmers.

'We're a small company that pays everyone Australian wages and because Australian wages are so much higher than overseas wages, it means our costs are higher.'

Breakfast cereal makers Kellogg's and Sanitarium no longer pay halal certification fees while Nestle has stopped the arrangement for its chocolate bars.