Recently, the community has been enlivened by the existence of government regulations to include the liquor industry as a positive investment list (DPI). This has reaped pros and cons, especially among Muslim consumers. With input from various Islamic mass organizations, the Government finally revoked the regulation.
What if the liquor claims that it doesn’t contain haram and alcohol? Can it be certified halal?
Chairman of the MUI Fatwa Commission (KF) for the 2015-2020 period, Prof. Dr. H. Hasanuddin AF, MA., emphasized that alcohol cannot be certified halal. He emphasized that he would not process halal certification for products tasyabbuh or those similar to products that are forbidden in Islam. That is, the liquor mentioned above, even though it is claimed to be without alcohol.
The position of the Fatwa Commission was previously emphasized when in 2015 discussing applications for halal certification from beverage manufacturing companies. However, because the product he produced was tasyabbuh with beer products that the ulama at MUI had agreed to prohibit, this application was rejected.
“There is one product which, in terms of materials and production processes, is not used in terms of its halal aspect. However, in the KF MUI study, the product resembles a beer drink that has been agreed to be forbidden in Islam, in terms of color, taste, aroma, and even the bottle packaging. We do not process the halal certification proposed by the company, although we also do not declare the product haram. Because we don’t use anything that is haram,” he said.
Executive Director of LPPOM MUI, Ir. Muti Arintawati, M.Si emphasized that alcoholic products will never get an MUI halal certificate. “It is not true that there is alcohol that has been certified halal by the MUI. We cannot possibly serve halal certification registration for such products,” she said.
Muti refers to MUI Fatwa Number 4 of 2003 concerning Standardization of Halal Fatwa. One of them establishes the problem of using names and materials, which consists of four points. First, the product must not use the name and/or symbols of food/drink that lead to kufr and slander.
Second, the product must not use the name and/or symbols of food/drink that point to the names of prohibited objects/animals, especially pigs and khamr, except those that have been traditional (‘urf) and certainly do not contain elements that are prohibited such as the names of meatballs, noodles, bakwan, bakpia and meatbun.
Third, the product must not use mixed ingredients for food/beverage components that create the taste/aroma of prohibited objects or animals, such as pork flavoured instant noodles, bacon flavour, etc.
Fourth, the product must not consume foods/drinks that use the names of prohibited foods/drinks, such as whiskey, brandy, beer, etc.
The rules regarding this matter are also stated in the Decree of the Director of LPPOM MUI Number 46 of 2014 concerning Provisions for Writing Product Names and Product Forms. In addition to the Decree of the Board of Directors, there are also Halal Assurance System Criteria (SJH) which serve as a guide for all LPPOM MUI halal auditors in serving halal certification.
In the Halal Assurance System Criteria in the “Product” section, it is emphasized that the characteristics/sensory profiles of the product must not have a tendency to smell or taste that leads to haram or products that have been declared haram based on the MUI fatwa.
The Decree of the Director of LPPOM MUI explains in detail that the name of the product that cannot be certified includes the name of the product containing the name of liquor. In this group, non-alcoholic wine, champagne, rootbeer, rhum raisin flavoured ice cream, and 0% alcohol beer certainly cannot pass and obtain halal certification.
Product names that contain pork and dog names and their derivatives, such as roast pork, fried pork, beef bacon, hamburgers, hot dogs. Even though it does not use ingredients derived from pork and its derivatives, naming products as above, halal certification cannot also be carried out.
Another prohibition contained in the decree is the name of products that contain satanic names such as rawon devil, ice pocong, kuntilanak chicken noodles. Just like the point above, these names also cannot obtain halal certification. Likewise, product names that lead to things that lead to kufr and slander, such as Valentine’s chocolate, Christmas biscuits, Gong Xi Fa Cai noodles, as well as product names that contain words that have the connotation of erotic, vulgar and / or pornographic.
However, there are exceptions to the above provisions, so they do not apply to products that have become a tradition, or are widely known and are guaranteed not to contain elements that are prohibited. For example, beer pletok, meatballs, noodles, bakwan, bakpia and meatbun.
On the other hand, there are also product brands that contain other haram product names, but are allowed to be certified. For example, the brands Garuda, Bear, Crocodile, Cap Badak. Product names that contain the words sexy and sensual but can be certified, for example sexy pinky lipstick, amber sensual lotion, and sensual spa. However, these provisions prohibit the use of pig and dog forms for products to be certified halal. Erotic, vulgar and/or pornographic forms of products or packaging labels are also prohibited from applying for halal certification. (FMS/YN)
