HALAL - Foreign agencies using MUI halal standards

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - At least 41 foreign food certification agencies have set their halal food standards based on inputs from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)`s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Research Institute (LPPOM), an MUI official said,

Among the 41 agencies were those of a number of ASEAN member countries, Canada, England, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Japan and the US, Lukmanul Hakim, the LPPOM head, said here Thursday.

"We try to make Indonesian halal certification applicable internationally. Our concept has been submitted to a World Halal Council (WHC) meeting and received a positive response," said Lumanul who is also the WHC`s secretary general at a workshop to mark LPPOM-MUI`s 22nd anniversary.

Meanwhile, MUI chairman Ma`ruf Amin said almost all food certification agencies in the world had adopted the practice of seeking LPPOM-MUI`s endorsement of the halal status of food or beverage products intended for export to Islamic countries.

Ma`ruf said MUI halal standards did not allow the presence of ingredients that were haram (forbidden) in food or beverage products , for example, pig body parts in gelatin, salts and other things, he said.

"German institutions did not use the halal concept before, where salt pork is used to be considered as halal to be put in any food. But since they want to be approved by  Indonesia, so they follow the standard of halal from MUI," he explained.

A number of foreign halal experts had learned about halal food in Indonesia thus showing that LPPOM MUI had gone international, he said

Source : http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/1294326693/foreign-agencies-using-mui-halal-standards - Jan 6, 2011