Since BPJPH Took Over, Indonesian Halal Certification Increases Rapidly

Dream - Indonesia has become a country with a majority Muslim population. The number of Muslims in Indonesia even reaches 13 percent of the world's Muslim population.

That is why Indonesia has a large and growing market for halal products. The Ministry of Religious Affairs even aspires for Indonesia to become the number one halal producer in the world, one way being by implementing halal certification for all products.

Since 2019, the Indonesian Halal Product Guarantee Agency (BPJPH) has certified 1.8 million products. This number shows a rapid increase compared to when halal certification was issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

“We can compare the number of halal certified products since MUI from 2012 to 2018, during those 6 years there were 668 thousand products, but in 2022 alone we have surpassed 6 years done by MUI, in 2022 there were 673 thousand,” said the Head of BPJPH, Muhammad Aqil Irham, on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

By accelerating the achievement of the target of 10 million halal certified products in 2024, BPJPH provides Free Halal Certification services for one million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia.

“We are making strategic efforts, one of which is in 2023 we provide Free Halal Certification facilities for 1 million,” said Aqi.

Halal certification is divided into two types. The first is regular certification, which is halal certification through examination and/or testing of product halalness by the Halal Inspection Agency (LPH) and self-declaration which is halal certification based on the halal requirements of business actors.

“As many as 230 thousand are the financing provided by the government, so for SMEs it's 0 rupiah. SMEs don't have to pay, the government pays, BPJPH pays, it's free,” said Aqil.

Not only waiting for SMEs to register, BPJPH's accompanying officers also go directly to the field to provide halal certification education.

According to him, this is done because there are still many SMEs who consider halal only as a religious issue. More than that, it is about how the product can compete and be trusted by consumers among foreign products that have been certified to enter Indonesia.

“Halal is no longer just a religious matter. Halal is about the company's reputation, values, company culture, marketing, branding image, and profit. Halal is not just a religious issue,” said Aqil.

“So whether the business actors are Muslim or non-Muslim is not important, what is important is that the product is halal,” he said.

After being reviewed and meeting the requirements, the product will be verified and processed by the fatwa committee for fatwa issuance.

“The product must meet the requirements, for example, it must not have high risks, the critical points must be low, the technology must be simple, the products must be natural and non-animal-based, and if they are animal-based, they must have halal certification. Then the production process is examined in terms of how the ingredients are processed,” he explained.