Although only 3% of business actors have halal certification, The President Director of LPH LPPOM, Muti Arintawati, invites the public to be optimistic. She said that this is a critical moment to rise together. By relying on consumer awareness, massive education, and regulatory certainty, Indonesia can make this 3% figure the starting point for a leap towards an inclusive and global halal ecosystem.
Amidst the government’s massive push to make Indonesia the centre of the world’s halal industry, a figure has emerged and attracted attention: only around 3% of business actors in Indonesia have halal certification. This data from KADIN opened a heated discussion at the Kumparan Halal Forum 2025, which took place on May 27, 2025, at the Artotel Mangkuluhur Hotel, Jakarta. With the theme “The X Factor to Accelerate Your Halal Certification Process,” the forum presented various stakeholders in the halal sector, including the President Director of the Halal Inspection Body (LPH) LPPOM, Muti Arintawati, who provided a sharp yet constructive view on the low adoption of halal certification in Indonesia.
“In our opinion, the first factor is that the obligation of halal certification has not been properly socialized. Both for producers and consumers,” said Muti.
According to her, these two sides, producers and consumers, have essential roles that encourage each other. “Business actors will immediately carry out halal certification by understanding this halal. And consumer awareness is also critical to encourage business actors to immediately take care of halal certification,” she added.
However, the challenges do not stop there. Other obstacles arise for business actors who already know the obligation of halal certification. According to Muti, one of them is the consistency of the implementation of regulations. She said that the uncertainty of deadlines and relaxation policies caused many business actors to finally take a wait-and-see attitude.
“It turns out that there are also obstacles. Consistency in implementing regulations. There is a deadline that turns out to have some relaxation or extension of the phasing period, so we felt it ourselves last year, October 2024, the registration really increased. Because everyone is afraid that if they miss the deadline, they will be sanctioned. But then the sanctions have not been enforced,” he explained.
Furthermore, he highlighted the government’s decision to extend the obligation period for MSMEs and provide relaxation for imported products. “Then it turned out to be backwards. So, what was initially enthusiastic, then finally wait and see, whether it will really be implemented firmly or how. This is also a challenging part,” he said.
Another challenge comes from MSMEs’ perceptions of the certification procedure, which is still considered complicated. Limited access to valid information is also an obstacle in itself.
“There are complaints from MSMEs who say that the procedure is still rather complicated. Then the access to information that is still felt is limited. Although if we dig deeper, it is actually not true either,” he said while emphasizing the importance of more massive and open education.
However, behind these challenges, Muti remains optimistic. He emphasized that the 3% figure is not a reason to be discouraged but rather an initial steppingstone towards greater achievements. “So, several things cause the figure to still be low, but it doesn’t feel like we are discouraged. This is the first step in working together to continue to achieve the government’s targets,” he said. The statement was warmly welcomed by forum participants from various sectors, ranging from halal industry players and academics to regulators. This forum is evidence that accelerating halal certification requires collaborative work from the government and business actors, consumers, and halal inspection institutions such as LPH LPPOM.
With a collaborative spirit and broader understanding, the Indonesian halal industry is believed to be able to move faster and stronger—towards the big ideal of being a major player in the global halal market.
LPH LPPOM always opens a discussion space for every business actor whose products have not yet been halal certified through the Customer Care service at Call Centre 14056 or WhatsApp 0811-1148-696. In addition, business actors can explore the flow and process of halal certification by attending the Introduction to Halal Certification (PSH) class, which is held routinely every 2nd and 4th week of each month: https://halalmui.org/pengenalan-sertifikasi-halal/.
So, for food and beverage packaging products that do not yet have halal certification, immediately choose LPH LPPOM as your partner in the halal certification process. You can also check the list of halal-certified products that LPH LPPOM inspects through the website www.halalmui.org, the Halal MUI application that can be downloaded on Playstore, and comprehensive information on the BPJPH website https://bpjph.halal.go.id/. (YN)
