Halal certification is important to strengthen the added value and product competitiveness. This was conveyed by the Acting Head of the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), Dr. Mastuki, M.Ag., in a virtual workshop entitled “The Importance of Halal Certification for Exports in Increasing Competitiveness of Indonesian Export Products” on April 23, 2021.
According to Mastuki, the issuance of Act Number 33 of 2014 concerning the Halal Product Assurance Act (UU JPH) aims to encourage business actors to increase their product competitiveness and added value. Along with the increasing awareness of the Muslim community in the world to continue to apply the halal lifestyle, of course, this potential is something that needs to be pursued optimally.
When talking about the existing conditions of business actors in Indonesia, data from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs shows that micro-businesses take the largest contribution to the community’s economy is 98.74%. Then proceed with small businesses as much as 1.15%, medium enterprises by 0.10%, and large businesses by 0.01%.
Seeing the figure, efforts to increase the number of exports by helping MSEs to graduate are the right choice. This can be done by strengthening the added value and competitiveness of the product, one of which is by doing the halal certification.
“Even so, there are indeed some obstacles that are commonly faced by MSEs products. One of the most common cases is related to halal raw materials. The availability of halal raw materials is very important for MSEs to ensure that their products are halal,” said Mastuki.
The halal certification process is in between the halal value chain and the process of bringing halal-certified products into the global market. This is a separate work pattern. There needs to be a collaborative effort between the halal infrastructure certification process and regulations that strengthen and facilitate the journey of products from upstream to downstream.
To achieve an integrated system that creates a halal value chain, a product must be guaranteed its halalness. In this case, the Assessment Institute For Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics Indonesian Council of Ulama (LPPOM MUI) has always applied three main principles in determining the halalness of a product, namely: authentication, traceability, and halal assurance.
Regarding authentication, all materials need to be authentically verified as halal through laboratory tests. In traceability, a product must be ensured that it comes from halal materials and processes that are free from unclean or haram. This is evidenced by documents that can show the source of the material and the process. While halal assurance, business actors must be able to maintain consistency and continuity from their halal products from the start of production to the consumers. (YN)
Photo Source: halal.go.id
