Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Religious Affairs Ministry confirmed that as many as 30 Halal Inspection Institutions (LPH), of which seven came from State Islamic Religious Colleges (PTKIN), were ready to operate.

"Thank God, in one year, the BPJPH was able to add more LPH. Initially, there were only three institutions, but now, it could reach 30 LPH, with seven of them from PTKIN," the ministry's Head of the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH), Aqil Irham, stated in Jakarta, Thursday.

Irham later emphasized the importance of LPH's role in the halal certification process. He affirmed that implementation of halal certification for products entering and circulating in Indonesia had started on October 17, 2019.

In addition, the target of 10 million halal-certified products by 2022 requires the availability of several supporting elements that must be met. As of April 2022, the BPJPH already had 11 LPHs and another 19 LPHs that received accreditation certificates this Thursday.

"LPHs, with their halal auditors and laboratories, are ready to test halal products. The current existence of 30 LPHs can accelerate the achievement of halal certification targets," Irham remarked.

He said that based on Law Number 33 of 2014, the three main actors in the implementation of halal product guarantees in Indonesia were firstly the BPJPH, as a regulator and certificate publisher, while the second was LPH as a product halal inspector.

"Third, the Fatwa Commission of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to authorize and determine the halalness of the product," he added.

Meanwhile, Acting Head of the Center for Cooperation and Standardization of BPJPH, Sidik Sisdiyanto, noted that with the existence of these 30 LPHs, the community would have several choices to certify their products with halal certificates.

As an effort to accelerate the formation of LPH, the BPJPH also cooperates with 58 PTKINs.

"Seven of them also received LPH accreditation certificates today," he noted.

Seven new PTKINs that received halal accreditation as LPH were the Islamic State University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta; UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung; UIN Raden Fatah, Palembang; UIN Sultan Thaha, Jambi; IAIN, Palangka Raya; UIN Walisongo, Semarang; and UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Malang.

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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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