Indonesia: University of Indonesia now halal products guarantor

The Jakarta Post

To assist government efforts in the provision of halal products, the University of Indonesia (UI) has launched a Halal Centre, which will serve as a halal products guarantor institution (LPH) starting from January 2018.

Director of UI Halal Center Amarila Malik stated that Muslim organizations Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah and Malaysia Management Science University would assist the center to conduct research on whether products were halal.

“We still need three more certified auditors,” Amarila said during the center launch event at UI Depok Integrated Laboratory Research Center on Wednesday, adding that to make the Halal Center eligible as an LPH, the center still needed more certified auditors.

However, Amarila said that to become certified LPH auditors, people needed to pass a certification test from the office of Halal Products Certification Agency (BPJPH), stressing that the long duration of the certification test would make it harder for her institution to recruit certified auditors.

However, BPJPH head Sukoso said that auditors who had previous experience as Indonesian Ulemas’ Council (MUI) Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM) auditors only need three days to be certified.

In October, the government revoked the authority of MUI to certify halal products, following the inauguration of the BPJPH. (dpk)