Business actors, including those in the imported food product business sector, can benefit from halal certification on their products. Halal certification is a form of business actor compliance with regulations. In this case, LPPOM is ready to assist every business actor in the halal certification process.
The government has enacted Act No. 33 of 2014 concerning Halal Product Assurance (UU JPH). This obligation states that products that enter, circulate, and are traded in Indonesia’s territory must be halal-certified, including imported products from abroad. LPPOM also supports the government’s program with actual actions by holding a webinar titled “Mandatory Halal 2024: What should Food Distributors and Importers prepare?” held on May 28, 2024.
Hj. Siti Aminah, M.Pd.I, as the Head of the Halal Registration and Certification Center of the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), explained that halal certification for imported products is a form of compliance with mandatory halal regulations in Indonesia, the certainty of the availability of halal products for the community and the realization of a sense of security and comfort for consumers in consuming imported products.
“For distributors and importers, halal certification provides benefits as added economic value for the products marketed and opens up opportunities to develop and expand networks in the international market as an increase in the quality of the products owned,” explained Aminah.
Meanwhile, according to the Head of Public Policy and Inter-Institutional Relations, Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers Association (GAPMMI), Rachmat Hidayat, M.B.A, M.Sc, based on the Global Islamic Economy Indicator (GIEI) in the State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) Report 2023-2024, Indonesia has succeeded in occupying third place. It has succeeded in becoming the world’s largest halal food and beverage market.
“The trend of halal product consumption in the world is growing tremendously, so there is massive potential for halal food and beverage products to develop, followed by other sectors such as fashion, cosmetics, and medicine.
He emphasized the advantage of halal certification as a competitive advantage, namely distinguishing products from competitors so that they are attractive to Muslim and non-Muslim consumers who value ethical and religious compliance in the production process. As a preference for retailers with a high brand image, especially in areas with a significant Muslim population, they prefer halal-certified products because they have many advantages.
According to the Halal Partnership and Audit Services Director of LPPOM, Dr. Ir. Muslich, M.Si, the main focus on halal certification of imported products is that the material must be halal according to Islamic law. In addition, in the production process, product handling must be free from contamination of impurities throughout the scope of distribution and sales activities by retailers and logistics services so that the product remains halal until it reaches the hands of consumers. He said that the halal certificate fulfils the Halal Product Assurance System (SJPH) criteria, such as committing to fulfilling the requirements and ensuring that facilities that come into contact with raw materials, intermediate products or products must be free from pork contamination.
“If you have ever been in contact with pork derivatives, there needs to be a washing process 7 times with water and one of them with soil or a cleaning agent, after this the facility may no longer be used to handle pork derivatives. Ensure that all materials, primary packaging, cleaning agents, and washing validation media are equipped with sufficient supporting documents,” explained Muslich.
Currently, LPPOM continues to encourage government efforts to realize the halal obligation. Not only through education for business actors, LPPOM, as a halal certification partner, also has several programs to facilitate business actors in carrying out halal certification and providing a platform that is easy to use by consumers, both business actors and the public, to be able to check products that already have halal certificates. You can check the halalness of the product through the website www.halalmui.org or the Halal MUI application, which can be downloaded from the Google Playstore. (ZUL)
