By: Ir. Hendra Utama, MM
Auditor Senior LPPOM MUI
In the halal certification process in Indonesia, internally the company must ensure the implementation of the Halal Assurance System (SJH). There are 11 criteria that must be met and three of them concern substantial matters, namely materials, production facilities, and products. Other criteria relate to the application of procedures that will guarantee that the three substantive criteria will always be met, as long as the halal certificate is valid.
Per definition, what is meant by halal products is products produced from ingredients and produced in facilities that meet halal criteria. The ingredients used in the halal certification process are all materials used or materials that are in direct contact with the product, to produce the halal product.
These materials are in the form of raw materials, additives, auxiliary materials, primary packaging materials, lubricants/lubricants/greases that are in direct contact with products/facilities that are in direct contact with the product, cleaning agents/detergents that are also in direct contact with products/facilities that are in direct contact with the product and validation/verification media of the washing process which is also in direct contact with products/facilities that are in direct contact with the product.
In general, halal certification is the process of identifying critical things that may affect halal status and ensuring that these critical things meet the halal criteria. If the identification results ensure that critical things do not meet halal criteria, then a product will never receive a halal certificate—to some point the company that owns the product can meet it.
In terms of origins, there are four categories of materials: animal-based, vegetable, microbial, and mineral/mine/chemical synthesis. Although in terms of the written category, in terms of the process of identifying critical points of monasticism, it is possible that outside the category of animal-based materials, there is a possibility of using animal materials or materials that are classified as illegitimate / unclean in the other three categories. The presence of illicit/unclean ingredients can be in additional materials, or auxiliary materials, or other materials.
Therefore, at a certain level from the company side, there are personalities who must have knowledge of materials related to halal aspects. So that with this knowledge base, mamdpu meets the criteria for halal materials. The assessment of meeting the criteria for halal materials is based on the availability of sufficient and valid supporting documents for the material.
Certain ingredients must be supported by a halal certificate from a recognized halal certificate institution, for example: animal-based materials (which require sharia-compliant slaughter), complex materials: for example flavors and fragrans, or materials that are difficult to trace the origin of the ingredients if they are not audited in the halal certification process, for example: by-product the cheese industry is lactose, sweet whey protein, or casein—which is usually the source of raw materials, which can come from many cheese factories, which are not necessarily all kosher.
However, for other critical materials, companies can still fulfill supporting documents using other forms of documents, for example: process flow charts, product specifications, or questionnaires issued by manufacturers; as long as based on the document can be traced the origin of the material.
Although in the end, the decision is fulfilled or not a fixed criterion based on the assessment of halal auditors. At the very least, the company already understands the requirements and provides the right documents for each material. In addition to the two categories of materials in terms of fulfilling halal documents, there is a third category of materials, namely non-critical materials. For non-critical materials there is no need for the availability of supporting documents. (*)
