There must be no one who does not know about the mandatory halal certification.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Religious Affairs Ministry's Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH) disclosed on Tuesday that it would carry out six measures to expedite the realization of the target of making Indonesia the world's number one halal food and beverage producer by 2024.

To this end, it has set a target of providing 10 million halal product certificates, Head of the BPJPH Aqil Irham informed here.

"This year (2023), we have a target of (providing) one million free halal certificates. However, we cannot stop there, because we have to accelerate (our program) so that 10 million halal-certified products can be provided by 2024," he said.

His agency will provide training for halal product certification assistants. The training is scheduled to take place in February and will involve 30 thousand assistants.

Another measure will be implementing the halal canteen program to ensure that all food and beverage products sold in canteens in all working units of the ministry get halal certification.

"We will start (the halal canteen program) at the Religious Affairs Ministry’s canteen in Banteng Field and Thamrin (street), then at the Inspectorate General of the Religious Affairs Ministry in Cipete, and the BPJPH’s canteen in Pinang Ranti," the BPJPH head informed.

Furthermore, his party will also strengthen inter-ministerial and institutional partnerships to realize the target, he said.

Yet another measure is facilitating the implementation of halal product certification in collaboration with various stakeholders.

"We had met with 22 ministries/agencies and committed to preparing a budget for facilitating self-declare and regular (halal) certification. This partnership program must also be carried out in all regions," Irham stated.

Meanwhile, the fifth measure is to conduct the mandatory halal certification campaign at one thousand locations across the 34 Indonesian provinces.

The BPJPH will also continuously monitor the progress of the implementation of the program.

The BPJPH head noted that monitoring is the key to achieving the certification target, thus the involvement of all stakeholders is needed.

“There must be no one who does not know about the mandatory halal certification," he emphasized.

The six measures have also been comprehensively discussed in the “National Coordination Meeting for Monitoring of Halal Product Assurance,” which is being held on January 30 to February 1, 2023.

Related news: Indonesia should become global halal industry's major player: MPR
Related news: All MSEs actors should partake in halal certification: VP Amin



Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023