TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Five United States halal certification bodies recently obtained accreditation from the Indonesian Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJPH) starting October 2024. The five bodies are the American Halal Foundation (AHF), Halal Certification Department of the Islamic Society of the Washington Area (ISWA), Islamic Society of America (ISA), Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), and Halal Transaction Omaha (HTO).
Two of the five bodies, AHF and ISWA, attended a halal food exhibition and iftar event entitled “Ramadan Delights with Halal-Certified U.S. Products” at the cultural center of the United States Embassy in Jakarta, @america in South Jakarta on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.
AHF and ISWA explained the process from initially applying BPJPH to receiving accreditation. Aly Ghanim, Quality Manager at ISWA’s Halal Certification Department, said the certification bodies asked BPJPH to come to the United States for an on-site assessment.
“So they came and saw our process. They did a lot of investigation into our files and documentation to make sure that we were following Indonesian standards,” Aly said.
Speaking of challenges, he said the long distance between Indonesia and the United States complicated the process quite a bit. They had to coordinate the travel of the BPJPH auditor team from Indonesia, Aly said.
“[The travel] was a challenge, especially considering the fact that America is a very large country. The halal certification bodies are not all located in one region,” he said.
Meanwhile, AHF’s COO James Chambers said the auditors of the US certification body went through an interview process with BPJPH in each scope and specialization. Interviews are conducted by Indonesian sharia and technical experts in matters of Islam, methods, and standards.
“The biggest challenge we’ve had is getting people in BPJPH to give us their full attention,” he said, adding that BPJPH received hundreds of applications from different countries.
AHF submitted their application to BPJPH in mid-2022, while ISWA submitted theirs in September 2022. Both went through the on-site assessment process at the same time in August 2023.
The newly accredited certification bodies currently do not have many products that have passed BPJPH’s halal certification but are optimistic that they will see an increase in the next four to five months. Aly said his office is also contacting various well-known US brands to get halal certification.
They see potential in US agricultural products such as beef and milk powder to get halal certification. In addition, they think retail products such as cosmetics also have a lot of potential. “I may be a little biased, but I think the United States has high-quality products to offer to the Indonesian people,” said Aly.
NABIILA AZZAHRA
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