Logistics services are responsible for controlling storage, transportation, and distribution activities outside the manufacturer.
However, from the halal aspect, these three activities are critical. Therefore, logistics services are included in objects that must be certified as halal.
Based on Act No. 33/2014, which was later amended in Government Regulation instead of Law (Perpu) Number 22/2022 (which was recently passed into law by the DPR-RI), product groups that must be guaranteed to be halal are goods and services related to with food, drink, medicine, cosmetics, chemical products, biological products, genetically engineered products, as well as goods used, used, or exploited by the public.
This halal guarantee is in the form of a halal certificate that gives confidence to its users that the process of halal products, including a series of activities in the supply of materials, processing, storage, packaging, distribution, sales, and presentation of products, meets halal criteria.
These regulations show that the demand for halal guarantees is not limited to the supply of materials, processing, storage of materials and products, and product packaging, which are critical activities in manufacturers only. Furthermore, it includes all essential activities that can contaminate halal materials/products with unclean and unclean ingredients if not controlled.
Including critical activities not carried out by the producer, namely by other parties with a risk of non-halal on the certified product. That is the importance of why from the service side, it is necessary to guarantee its halalness, namely services that are directly related to products subject to the obligation of halal certification, including storage, transportation, and distribution services for halal materials and products, sales and presentation, which are usually not carried out directly by the producer. Logistics service businesses must meet several requirements to obtain a halal certificate.
Halal Logistics Scope
Per definition, what is included in the scope of halal logistics activities is the process of handling the flow of materials and products through the supply chain following halal standards. This means that with controlled handling, all logistics activities can be free of impurities that can contaminate halal materials/products.
The implementation of the Halal Product Assurance System (SJPH) for halal logistics services can include control in the main areas as follows:
- Warehousing
- Transportation
- Distribution
- Production Facility
HALAL CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR LOGISTICS SERVICES
Just like other business actors, to obtain a halal certificate, logistics services must also meet the criteria of the Halal Product Assurance System (SJPH). There are five SJPH criteria, namely:
1. Commitment and Responsibility Criteria includes arrangements regarding halal policies, management teams, and human resource development.
The halal policy is the company’s top management’s written commitment to maintain its logistics services to meet halal requirements consistently. The halal management team is responsible for preparing, implementing, and continuously improving the implementation of SJPH. Human resource development is training for all employees involved in critical activities.
The implementation of SJPH is not an individual responsibility but a shared responsibility from top management, middle management, to employees involved in critical activities. Therefore, top management must provide resources to support the implementation of SJPH through physical facilities, training, and continuous coaching support to build halal awareness, including solutions for issues outside middle management’s authority.
Meanwhile, middle management translates the SJPH criteria and concepts in preparation, implementation, and continuous improvement. Employees then apply SJPH at the operational level. Then, the halal supervisor is in charge of supervising and evaluating the performance of the SJPH.
After all, the application of SJPH involves cross-sectoral, cross-level management in the hierarchy of business organizations, so the consistency of the application of SJPH is maintained to respond to challenges in the dynamics of business processes that may change and have the potential to affect the halal status of materials/products handled by the logistics service.
2. Material Criteria in which there are arrangements regarding material criteria. Materials handled along the supply chain must meet halal standards and be kept free of contamination from impurities.
In practice, to maintain business continuity, logistics services usually seek long-term contracts with halal-certified manufacturers or food service businesses (catering/restaurants) to support storage, transportation, and distribution of materials and products.
For logistics services like this, if you want a halal certificate, you must ensure that halal materials and products stored, moved, and distributed must be protected from contamination by unclean and unclean materials. So to ensure the halal status of materials, there must be a mechanism for verifying the supporting documents for the halal status.
In the context of implementing SJPH, what is meant by material criteria here are materials owned by the client company and other materials that may have direct contact with materials or facilities in connection with materials, for example, washing materials or media used for washing validation.
Every material that has been verified and has sufficient halal documents will be included in the list of halal materials. This list of halal materials is a standard reference for all critical activities controlled by logistics service companies so that they are not contaminated with haram/najis materials, including materials stored in warehouses, materials that are moved, or materials that are distributed between warehouses for example between warehouses materials belonging to suppliers or warehouses belonging to logistics services with warehouses belonging to manufacturers or restaurants/catering.
With a list of verified halal ingredients, the possibility of being contaminated with unclean and unclean ingredients can be minimized. Moreover, logistics service companies usually do not have just one partner/client/customer.
It is also possible that a logistics service company with the same flag also serves to store and distribute materials or products that are non-halal or whose halal status is unclear. If there is such a case, the storage, transfer, and distribution facilities for halal materials can be managed with the support of adequate written procedures for critical activities by referring to the list of halal materials.
Based on regulatory demands, the method physically separates facilities (halal and non-halal). It is supported by procedures to prevent cross-contamination between non-halal and non-halal materials. This includes the arrangement of the layout of materials, the movement of the flow of materials, or the flow of people in such a way as to prevent cross-contamination.
There must be a more stringent control mechanism for cold chain facilities to keep halal materials from being contaminated with unclean/unlawful materials, especially ingredients derived from meat and processed meat products, compared to packaged dry materials facilities. However, cross-contamination prevention procedures must be implemented for both types of facilities.
3. Criteria for Halal Product Process (PPH) in which there are arrangements regarding facilities (location, place, and tools) for storage, movement (transportation), and distribution, as well as procedures for implementing SJPH.
In the context of halal certification, the PPH control for each logistics service is highly dependent on its business processes. Before preparing the SJPH manual and its supporting procedures, what must be identified is the logistics service business process: what are the critical activities and facilities.
The procedure for implementing SJPH depends on the identified business process. Some logistics services focus on storage and transportation activities only, so the critical facilities here are warehouses and means of transportation.
Some focus on storage, transportation, and distribution, so critical facilities are also warehouses and means of transport, but usually, the range of services is more comprehensive, so the list of facilities involved is also more extensive. There is also the addition of repackaging activities or physical processing of certain materials (e.g., cutting or grinding meat). Thus, the critical facilities and equipment are those associated with the repackaging line and the physical process.
Likewise, some logistics services serve halal and non-halal materials or products, so the facilities for the two halal statuses must also be controlled not to contaminate each other. Thus, variations in facilities and procedures for critical activities depend on the logistics service business processes and have implications for variations in essential actions that must be controlled.
The procedures that must be controlled must include the rules for drivers not to open transportation equipment that has been sealed from the warehouse where it departs until it reaches its destination. The warehouse of origin and destination is authorized to close and unseal the means of transportation. The aim is to maintain the integrity of the implementation of transportation procedures so that they always meet halal criteria.
4. Product Criteria in which there are regulations regarding product management and handling, product identification, and traceability.
The application of SJPH in logistics services for product criteria is the same as the criteria for halal materials. As long as there is no handling of the production process, logistics services will produce no products.
Another case is if there are critical activities, such as repacking, or there is a process of cutting and grinding meat. This activity will be assessed as a logistics service product. If not, what is meant by product here is the client’s product.
For client product distribution services, what must be ensured is that there is a list of verified halal products. Suppose there are non-halal products or products whose halal status is unclear. In that case, they must be separated physically by clearly identifying which products are halal and non-halal by implementing an adequate traceability system.
Suppose an unexpected or uncontrollable event causes a client’s halal product to become contaminated with uncleanness by checking the traceability system. In that case, which products and facilities are contaminated with uncleanness will be known. When there are findings of products that do not meet the criteria, the handling is more focused by ensuring that only products that are verified as contaminated are handled and separated from halal products.
5. Criteria for Monitoring and Evaluation in which there are arrangements regarding internal audits and management reviews.
To ensure that the application of SJPH is always in the halal corridor, there must be a monitoring and evaluation process within a certain period. Monitoring and evaluation take the form of internal audits and management reviews. Internal audit is conducted at least once a year. Likewise, management reviews at least once a year.
A team of internal auditors or supervisors competent in halal requirements performs an internal audit. Management review is carried out in the form of an annual meeting to discuss halal issues within the realm of top management control, where the input of the meeting can come from the results of internal or external audits.
The results of this monitoring and evaluation will be the basis for continuous improvement of SJPH for the next implementation cycle.
THE CHALLENGES OF LOGISTICS SERVICES IN IMPLEMENTING A HALAL PRODUCT ASSURANCE SYSTEM
As time continues, the time will come when logistics services will also be subject to certification obligations. So business actors engaged in logistics services must also anticipate when this crucial moment will come.
During the first phase of the mandatory halal certification, which will end on October 17, 2024, there are indeed new halal obligations for three groups, namely (1) food and beverage products, (2) raw materials, food additives, and supporting materials for food and beverage products. , (3) slaughter products and slaughter services. This is following the mandate of PP 39/2021.
Therefore, logistics service business actors who do not yet have halal certificates should take the initiative to prepare to welcome that time to come. Halal Journal records show only logistics service companies that meet halal requirements. Meanwhile, the number of logistics business actors is increasing occasionally. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number has increased.
To implement the Halal Product Assurance System (SJPH) as a prerequisite for obtaining a halal certificate, several stages should concern logistics service business actors.
1. Understand the unique SJPH criteria for logistics services according to halal regulations.
2. Ensuring the availability of adequate resources for the preparation, implementation, and continuous improvement of SJPH, among others, by forming a halal management team and appointing a halal supervisor. To make it easier for human resources to gain adequate competence for the team, companies are advised to take part in external training at training institutions recognized by BPJPH.
Furthermore, internal training mechanisms for employees involved in critical activities can be developed by utilizing trainers from trainees who have graduated from external training.
3. Identify critical matters, including materials and products handled, equipment and facilities for storage, transportation, and distribution, which may not be simple; depending on the size of the logistics company and the distribution of the areas served, especially with the geographical conditions of Indonesia as a maritime country or in the form of an archipelago.
At the very least, when the identification process is complete, there will be output in the form of a list of materials, a list of products, a list of warehouses, and a list of means of transportation (land, sea, air) owned by logistics service business actors which will later be included in the scope of SJPH implementation.
Moreover, in the business process, these critical activities are not always carried out by just one logistics service business actor—consisting of a collaboration of several companies. Of course, there must be a process for understanding halal requirements together which has implications for each business actor.
4. Conduct a gap analysis between the existing documents (company internal systems already running at the logistics service company) and the required SJPH documents. This analysis needs to be carried out to see how much effort must be made to achieve conditions that meet halal requirements so that all documents are included which should exist.
5. Prepare the SJPH manual and procedures for critical activities as a guide in implementing the SJPH. The SJPH manual and guidelines for necessary actions will become a daily guide in implementing the SJPH.
When the gap analysis has been carried out, it will be seen which documents are lacking, which, if not yet available, must be prepared to be included as part of the document (HAS manual and critical activity procedures).
Of course, to facilitate the preparation of this document, it is necessary to support the internal halal management team, which comes from representatives in charge of different critical activities (storage, transportation, and distribution) because each representative understands the condition of each essential activity that becomes a responsibility.
In future practice, to make it easier, there must be a centralized system for implementing and controlling the SJPH manual and procedures for these critical activities for all facilities that fall within the scope of SJPH implementation.
This means that inter-facility in critical activities must refer to the centralized rules. Even if there are variations between the central warehouse and regional warehouses, for example, involving different transporter partners, or the warehouse manager is not an own company/partner, it must still be controlled from the central office/warehouse based on the SJPH Manual and procedures for centralized critical activities.
6. Carry out the purification process for storage, transportation, and distribution facilities exposed to moderate or heavy uncleanness (if any), which then wish to be made into halal facilities.
If it turns out that there are facilities contaminated with moderate or heavy uncleanness from the results of the identification of critical facilities, then a Sharia purification process is necessary.
7. Physically separate tools and facilities for storage, transportation, and distribution between halal and non-halal (if any). We must realize that logistics services are only a tiny part of the halal supply chain.
However, the role of logistics services must be addressed because if, in the logistics process, there is cross-contamination between non-halal/impure materials/products and those that are holy/halal, then, of course, the consumers will be affected in the end.
Halal-certified products that are unclean then have a mutanajis status. Mutanajis is a term that refers to something that is lawful and holy and then exposed to uncleanness. If something is mutanajis, then the status becomes unlawful. Finally, the guarantee of halal products for consumers that should be fulfilled following the law’s mandate does not occur when consumers consume these haram products.
Reflecting on cases of non-halal products, one of the factors that contributed to the occurrence of these cases was cross-contamination that occurred during storage, transfer/transfer of goods between locations, and distribution of halal materials/products from the central warehouse to regional warehouses/other facilities; In addition, there is the factor of negligence or even on purpose by business actors who mix non-halal ingredients but claim them as halal products (halal fraud).
