
Indonesia is a country that has the largest Muslim population in the world, which of course has an interest in the circulation of products that are safe and with halal standards. Because automatically Muslims become the biggest consumers in this country. Therefore, domestic consumers should get protection in obtaining certainty about the circulating halal food products.
Providing halal and safe food is a very prospective business, because with halal certification and labels, it can invite loyal customers who are not only interested by Muslims but also non-Muslim communities. And products with halal labels can increase product competitiveness which has positive implications for production and sales volumes. On the other hand, for producers who do not provide halal information and market their products in a country such as Indonesia, which has a Muslim majority population, their products are less desirable, thus harming the business actors themselves.
Malang Regency is one of the areas that has hundreds of SMEs (Small and Micro Industries) that contribute to developing the regional economy. Pujon is one of the sub-districts in Malang Regency which consists of 10 villages. As one of the tourist destinations, the existence of SMEs strongly supports the existence of the tourism industry. Small and medium industries, especially the food sector as an integral part of tourism, must be able to guarantee the quality of the products produced, including guarantees for halal products, so that consumers become more comfortable and get satisfaction.
Based on this, the Doctoral Service Team (DM) Universitas Brawijaya (UB) in 2022 under the chair of Anna Safitri., M.Sc., Ph.D with members Dra. Sri Wardhani., M.Si; Layta Dinira, S.Si., M.Si; Sovia Rosalin., A.Md., S.AP., S.Kom., M.AB; and Yenny Kornitasari, SE., M.E. held service activities as a form of concern for the development of SMEs in Pujon District, Malang Regency.
This DM activity involves 10 UB students as their Thematic Community Service (PKM) activity, under the auspices of the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM). The purpose of this activity is to provide guidance and assistance to SMEs regarding improving the quality of halal product guarantees leading to halal certification.
This activity began on May 31, 2022, at Pujon District pavilion, with the initial activity being FGD on halal certification and the documents required for initial certification by self-declare line.
This service activity was welcomed by Pujon District, with the opening of the activity by Achmad Taufiq Juniarto, S. STP, MM, as the Head of Pujon. He said that most SME groups in Pujon do not yet have halal certification, and this is very important in encouraging the competitiveness of SME products to be able to advance and hopes that by 2024 all SMEs can get halal certification.
In the FGD, the material was presented by the team representative, namely Dra. Sri Wardhani., M.Si as Halal Supervisor, and Ellya Indahyanti, S.Si., M.Eng. as PPH Companion (halal product process). In the presentation, it was conveyed in substance, the importance of ownership of certification for SME groups and the production process that must be carried out. Furthermore, it is also explained related to technical matters regarding halal certification such as preparation of documents that need to be completed and also the technical process of online registration through “Sihalal” application.
This activity was carried out offline by maintaining health protocols and carried out in an open room condition which was attended by 40 SMEs in Pujon District. The results of this first phase of activity resulted in 6 Business Identification Numbers (NIB) through the https://oss.go.id site. Not all SMEs have NIB, which is the initial requirement for submitting a halal certificate using the self-declared line.
The next activity was carried out on June 16, namely FGD on filing halal certification. In this second activity, SME owner bring the documents needed for the purpose of filing for halal certification. SME owner submit documents to the halal application with assistance from the DM team. The result of this activity is that as many as 11 SMEs have successfully submitted their documents for the submission of halal certificates for their products.
The third activity was carried out on 27 June 2022, namely verification and validation of the application for halal certification. In the PPH activity, Ellya Indahyanti, S.Si., M.Eng, accompanied by a DM team and PKM-T students, made a direct visit to the location of SME owner who registered their halal certification through the halal application. This is done to see the materials and production processes carried out by business actors, whether they have complied with the requirements of Halal Product Assurance System (SJPH).
This DM activity will continue to be carried out until October 2022, with the next agenda is financial management and administration training for MSEs in Pujon District. [AS/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir]