Jakarta -- The Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH) of the Ministry of Religious Affairs stated that not all products or materials circulating in Indonesia must be certified halal. The government has issued the Minister of Religion Decree Number 1360 of 2021 concerning Materials Excluded from the Obligation of Halal Certification.

The Head of BPJPH Muhammad Aqil Irham stated in Jakarta (30/5/2024) that this regulation is intended to provide guidance and legal certainty regarding materials that are not required to be halal certified.

This is regulated in Article 62, paragraph (2) of Government Regulation (PP) Number 39 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of the Halal Product Assurance Sector.

The ministry stipulates three categories of materials that are exempt from the obligation to be certified halal, with the first being materials coming from nature in the form of plants and mining materials without undergoing processing.

"This included materials derived from plants or non-slaughtered animals without processing or physical processing and without the addition of auxiliary materials, additives, or other ingredients," Aqil Irham remarked.

Fresh fruits, fresh and dried vegetables, cereals, tubers, nuts, fresh seaweed, corn rice, dried grated coconut, pure coconut, fresh milk, fresh eggs, fresh water fish, frozen, dried or marinated fish are excluded from being halal certified.

Falling under the second category are materials categorized as having no risk of containing prohibited substances that comprise materials other than those originating from nature as well as materials and chemical products resulting from mining or the results of inorganic and organic synthesis.

The third category is materials that are not classified as dangerous and do not come into contact with non-halal material, such as chemicals resulting from mining and/or refining processes from natural materials and chemicals resulting from inorganic and organic synthesis.

The complete list of ingredients excluded from the obligation to be certified halal can be found and downloaded on the page halal.go.id in the column 'Regulation'.