halal dedicated. This means that companies produce products with facilities specifically for halal products and cannot share facilities with non-halal products. LPPOM MUI Senior Auditor Dr. Ir. Mardiah Rahman, M.Si., conveyed this in a Halal Talk themed “Contamination of Halal Restaurants, What is Violated?” held by LPPOM MUI some time ago.
“These requirements are reduced to various regulations. One of them is that restaurant visitors are not permitted to bring pets because they can pollute the dining area. “Visitors are also prohibited from bringing food and drinks from outside for fear that they could be unclean and contaminate eating utensils, such as tables, plates, and glasses,” explained Mardiah.
Consumers need to know that the words “Do not bring food and drinks from outside” function to prevent contamination of restaurant facilities. This is also a form of halal-certified restaurant’s commitment to safeguarding restaurant facilities from unclean contamination and non-halal materials from outside.
Apart from restaurant outlet facilities, storage facilities such as meat storage and warehouses must also be halal dedicated, free from non-halal ingredients, and no shared facilities exist. This place is only intended for halal products so that halalness is maintained in the hands of consumers.
“Washing is divided into two types: washing for najis mughallazoh and najis mutawassithoh. Najis Mughallazoh (heavy uncleanness) comes from the saliva of dogs, pigs, and their derivatives. If you are exposed to the najis mughallazoh, the washing must be done seven times (7x), and one of them is using soil. “Then the najis mutawassithoh, such as human waste, animal waste, animal fur, and the like, are washed until the smell, taste, and color disappear using a cleaning agent,” said Mardiah.
However, some companies cannot wash using water, such as oil companies that have to pass with new oil. Products in powder form cannot be washed with water and can only be cleaned with a vacuum, cloth, or brush. Apart from that, there are industries whose facilities cannot be washed with water because it can damage the facilities or equipment used, so cleaning other than water is permitted for dirt that is not considered highly unclean.
Mardiah also explained that to see halal products, you don’t just have to look at the composition of the raw materials, but you have to look at the facilities. Furthermore, what is no less important is that the cleaning materials used to clean the najis must also be halal. Make sure the cleaning materials used for cleaning are clean.
The process of making soap or other solid cleansers usually involves a saponification process by mixing essential chemical compounds and fatty acids. Fatty acids have a composition that contains fat derivatives, both animal and vegetable. If it comes from animals, it must be ensured that it comes from halal animals that are slaughtered according to Islamic law.
Al-Hafidz Ibn Mardawih narrated a hadith from Ibn Abbas that Sa’ad bin Abi Waqash said to the Prophet, “O Messenger of Allah, pray for me so that I will be the one whose prayers are answered by Allah.” What was the answer of the Messenger of Allah, “O Sa’ad, improve your food (eat halal food) and you will be a person whose prayers are always answered. And by my soul which is in His hand, indeed if someone puts haram food into his stomach, his good deeds will not be accepted for 40 days.” (H.R. At-Thabrani)
To avoid what is haram, it’s a good idea to be critical and pay close attention to the menus and ingredients used in restaurants so that we can always get blessings. One of the easiest efforts is to choose halal-certified products. You can search for restaurants that are halal certified via the website www.halalmui.org or the HalalMUI application, which can be downloaded on Google Playstore. (ZUL)
