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| Prof. Dr. Ir. Elfi Anis Saati., MP is providing assistance to KUBA in Pasuruan (Photo: Istimewah) |
According to data, the Institute for the Study of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics of the Indonesian Ulema Council (LPPOM MUI) has granted halal certification to 10,643 Micro and Small Enterprises (UMK). Meanwhile, in 2022 2,310 MSEs will be certified halal. Based on this data, the number of halal-certified MSEs is still minimal compared to the number of MSMEs in Indonesia, which reached 64.2 million based on data from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs in 2018. Therefore, the Halal Center of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) continues to provide self-declaration assistance to help verify and validate the halal statement at the SME Community with the Code of Trust (KUBA) in Pasuruan.
Related to this, the Head of the Center for Research and Development of UMM Halal Products, Prof. Dr. Ir. Elfi Anis Saati., MP, and the halal center team successfully assisted in self-declaring halal and strengthening healthy food products for SMEs in Pasuruan last August. Not only assisting but also socializing the Ministry of Religion's self-declaring activities and Muhammadiyah's halal pledge.
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Elfi, as she is familiarly called, said that this outreach activity was beneficial for SMEs in Pasuruan who did not understand the flow or stages of the process. The self declares it is a halal certification process managed by the Halal Product Guarantee Agency (BPJPH) which has been mandated by law. The goal is to provide convenience for SMEs.
"So it's like a statement on the halal status of a product for SMEs independently. The point here is that an SME or a business actor can declare their products halal if they meet the mandatory requirements in the process," explained Elfi.
Before self-declaring, business actors must meet the mandatory requirements to have assistance from a registered Halal Product Process Facilitator (PPH). In addition, in the process, the UKM must also meet the existing criteria, such as the ingredients used are straightforward and can be confirmed as halal.
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Elfi emphasized that this self-declaration did not go through the process of the MUI fatwa commission. A competent person in the field must still carry out the determination of the certification. This assistance activity can be carried out by an Islamic community organization or an Islamic religious institution that is a legal entity or university. One of them was by Muhammadiyah and UMM.
On the other hand, the head of UKM KUBA, Siti Sa'adah Heru, appreciated this assistance. According to him, the steps taken by the UMM Halal Center were perfect so that dozens of KUBA members could understand and take care of self-declaring halal. Moreover, Indonesia is a country with a sizeable Muslim population.
"Of course, halal products will attract even more consumers. In addition to self-declaring counseling, we have also discussed with the UMM team to build ecotourism so that the benefits can be wider," she added. (apg/zak/wil)
