HALAL - MUI to set single national halal standard

JAKARTA: The Indonesia Ulema Council (MIU) says it will set a single national standard for certifying halal food to replace 41 world-class institutions promoting different standards in Indonesia.

The MUI’s food, medicine and cosmetics analysis body (LPPOM MUI) head Lukmanul Hakim said that the 41 institutions had different standards, with only eight referring to the MUI.

“The different standards lie, for example, in pork usage. There are countries that see gelatin as halal, while MUI does not. Indonesia has every right to set our own standards for consumer protection,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com news portal.

He said the MUI would analyze each halal standard individually. He called on institutions to follow the MUI’s standard, citing the size of the Indonesian market.

According to the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), there were currently 113,515 halal-registered products in the nation, 36 percent of which were certified as halal by the MUI. — JP

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/07/mui-set-single-national-halal-standard.html - Jan 7, 2010