Halal Certification Technical Guide: Step by Step

Halal certification is a tiered process. Each stage has an output that determines the next stage. This article guides you through the technical sequence so business actors know what to prepare at each step.

1. Make sure the product is among those required to be certified

The first step is to confirm your product's position. KMA 748 Tahun 2021 sets out the product groups required to have halal certification along with their phasing, and this rule was amended by KMA 944/2024. If your product falls into those groups, prepare yourself to follow the applicable stages.

2. Build a Halal Product Assurance System

Certification is not just about handling paperwork. There is a system that must stand behind it. In practice, this system covers halal policy, the list of ingredients used, the production flow, and the appointment of responsible personnel.

Critical points of ingredients are usually the hardest work at this stage. For example:

• Rennet in cheese. Animal rennet comes from the stomach of calves and must be slaughtered according to sharia. The alternative is microbial rennet or fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC) that is halal-certified.
• L-Cysteine (E920) in mass-produced bread. Historically this ingredient was extracted from human hair or poultry feathers. The alternative is certified L-Cysteine from microbial fermentation, or plant-based dough relaxer enzymes.
• Mechanically separated meat (MSM) in sausages, nuggets, and meatballs. This ingredient risks being mixed from various types of animals. What is needed is a guarantee of a dedicated halal production line and a certificate from a certified slaughterhouse.
• Albumin from egg white. It is generally halal, but it still needs to be verified free from non-halal mixtures and its label must explicitly state "egg albumin/albumen".

Every ingredient needs supporting documents. For animal-derived ingredients, these documents are usually in the form of a halal certificate from the supplier. For microbial ingredients and additives, information on the source and production process is needed.

3. Register the application

The halal certification application is submitted to BPJPH. BPJPH service standards, including requirements, timeframes, and tariffs, are set out in Keputusan Kepala BPJPH Nomor 243 Tahun 2025 concerning Service Standards at BPJPH. This decision covers 27 types of services, including the issuance of halal certificates, registration of LP3H and PPH assistants, and facilitation codes, and revokes Kepka 120/2022.

Check the completeness of documents before applying. Incomplete documents are the most common reason applications are held up.

4. Document review and LPH appointment

Once the file is declared complete, the process continues to review by the Halal Inspection Agency. LPH is an agency that must be accredited. The LPH accreditation guidelines are set out in Keputusan Kepala BPJPH Nomor 78 Tahun 2025, which contains requirements, Pratama and Utama qualifications, scope of competence, costs, application flow, surveillance, and witness assessment, referring to SNI ISO/IEC 17065:2012.

The procedures for the establishment, accreditation, scope of activities, and revocation of LPH approval are set out in PP 42 Tahun 2024, replacing PP 39/2021. The same regulation also governs the appointment and dismissal of Halal Auditors.

5. Audit and sampling

Halal Auditors carry out inspections at the production facility. What is inspected includes the conformity of ingredients with documents, the production flow, cleanliness, and line separation for risky ingredients. Samples may be taken for laboratory testing if needed.

The audit results are set out in a report. This report becomes the main material at the next stage.

6. Fatwa hearing

The inspection report is discussed in a fatwa hearing. The determination of a product's halal status is the authority of the MUI Fatwa Commission or the Halal Product Fatwa Committee. At this stage, halal status cannot yet be considered final before there is a determination.

7. Issuance of the halal certificate

The halal certificate is issued only by BPJPH. After the halal determination, BPJPH issues the certificate. From this point, the product may display the halal label in accordance with applicable provisions.

What must be maintained after the certificate is issued

The certificate is not the end of the process. The system that has been built must keep running. Changes in suppliers, changes in formula, or changes in production lines can affect the product's status. Therefore, periodic internal audits and updates to ingredient documents need to become a habit, not a one-time activity.

To manage halal policy, ingredient registry, critical points, and certification readiness in one place, IndoHalal.id provides SJPH — a Halal Product Assurance System platform that helps business actors tidy up all SJPH criteria in a measurable way.