Pick up a packet of Indonesian instant noodles in a British or Australian supermarket and the purple Halal Indonesia logo is almost certainly on it. Most shoppers read it as “halal, certified, done”. Fewer could say what was actually audited to put it there.
The answer is a management system with a name, SJPH, and five criteria that an auditor walks through before BPJPH will issue the certificate. Knowing them tells you what the logo covers, and the two or three things it does not.
From MUI’s eleven criteria to BPJPH’s five
Indonesia changed who certifies halal in 2019. Before that, LPPOM MUI, the food assessment arm of the Indonesian Ulema Council, both audited producers and issued certificates, against its own HAS 23000 standard with eleven criteria. The green MUI logo on a pack was its mark.
Law 33 of 2014 moved certification to the state. BPJPH, the Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, now issues the certificate and owns the purple Halal Indonesia logo. MUI, or another recognised fatwa body, still issues the religious ruling that the product is halal; BPJPH turns that ruling into a certificate. Audits are done by halal inspection bodies (LPH), of which LPPOM MUI is one.
The standard changed with the issuer. BPJPH Head’s Decree 20 of 2023 sets the criteria for the Halal Product Assurance System, SJPH, and consolidates the old eleven into five.
The five SJPH criteria
| Criterion | What the auditor checks | What it means on your shelf |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Commitment and responsibility | Written halal policy, named halal supervisor, trained staff, management sign-off | Someone inside the company is accountable for halal, by name |
| 2. Materials | Every raw material, additive and processing aid documented as halal; animal-origin materials, gelatine, enzymes, emulsifiers, flavours, fats and oils flagged as high-risk and checked to source | The E471 in that biscuit was traced, not assumed |
| 3. Halal product process (PPH) | Receiving, processing, slaughter where relevant, storage, packaging, transport, distribution, sale and presentation kept free of non-halal contact | The certificate covers the warehouse and the lorry, not just the mixer |
| 4. Products | The submitted product’s composition, process, characteristics, packaging, name and presentation comply; no product named after or styled as something haram | A product called “bacon-flavour” would fail even with halal ingredients |
| 5. Monitoring and evaluation | Internal audit, management review, corrective action, records proving continued compliance through the certificate period | The system is checked between audits, not only at renewal |
Two of these go further than many Western certifiers. Criterion 3 extends into logistics and retail presentation, which is why Indonesian certificates cover handling and not only formulation. Criterion 4 includes naming and presentation, which is a fatwa-driven rule that Indonesia applies and most other bodies do not.
What the materials criterion actually catches
For a shopper outside Indonesia this is the criterion that matters, because it is where the difference between “ingredients look fine” and “ingredients were traced” lives.
Under SJPH a producer has to hold documentation for every material, with particular attention to the categories this site flags everywhere: materials of animal origin, gelatine, enzymes, emulsifiers such as E471, flavourings, fats and oils, and processing aids. An undisclosed-source E471 that would make a UK product Mushbooh on this site cannot sit undocumented in a product certified under SJPH. Either the supplier’s halal documentation exists, or the material is replaced, or the product is not certified.
Materials on BPJPH’s exemption list, now Decree 301 of 2026, do not need their own certificate: plant-derived raw materials, purified minerals, non-fermentation synthetic chemicals and similar. Everything else is documented. Our guide to the exemption decree lists the categories.
Slaughter under SJPH
For meat and poultry, the process criterion applies Indonesian slaughter rules: the animal’s eligibility, the slaughterman’s competence, the procedure and equipment, stunning requirements, segregation, traceability and prevention of cross-contact. A foreign certifier working for the Indonesian market is expected to evaluate these for Indonesia specifically rather than assume that what satisfied another export market is equivalent. That is one reason Indonesian recognition of a foreign body is scope-bound; a body recognised for processed food is not thereby recognised for slaughter.
What the logo does not cover
Products the company did not submit. Certification is per product. A company with forty products and thirty certificates has ten uncertified products, and the SJPH criterion on products is explicit that only submitted products are covered. The logo on one pack says nothing about the next pack along from the same brand.
A reformulated version. SJPH requires the producer to report changes to ingredients, suppliers, formulation or process that may affect halal status. If the change was not reported, the certificate does not cover the new version. A pack whose ingredient list differs from the one you remember deserves a second look at the logo and the certificate number.
An imported product’s audit. For a product made outside Indonesia, the Halal Indonesia logo means a BPJPH-recognised foreign certifier audited it and BPJPH registered that certificate. The audit standard is the foreign body’s, judged by BPJPH as comparable. Our guide to Indonesia’s October 2026 import deadline explains how that recognition works.
Older stock. The transition from the MUI logo to the Halal Indonesia logo ran for years. Packs carrying the green MUI logo were certified under HAS 23000; they are not uncertified, just older. Check the certificate number if it matters.
How to read a Halal Indonesia logo in 30 seconds
- Find the logo and the certificate number. The purple logo should sit with a BPJPH certificate number or the older MUI number on the pack.
- Match the product name. The certificate covers the product as named and presented. A different variant may not be covered.
- Check the country of manufacture. Made in Indonesia means a BPJPH process; made elsewhere means a recognised foreign certifier.
- Look for the non-halal statement if there is no logo. Since BPJPH Regulation 3 of 2026, products made from haram materials sold in Indonesia must carry a “tidak halal” statement. No logo and no statement on an imported product sold in Indonesia after 18 October 2026 is a product that should not be on the shelf.
Summary
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is SJPH? | The Halal Product Assurance System every Indonesian certificate holder must run (BPJPH Decree 20/2023) |
| How many criteria? | Five: commitment, materials, process, products, monitoring |
| Who issues the certificate? | BPJPH, a government agency, on a fatwa from MUI or another recognised body |
| Who audits? | A halal inspection body (LPH), such as LPPOM MUI |
| What does the logo cover? | The submitted product, its materials, process, storage, transport and presentation |
| What does it not cover? | Unsubmitted products from the same brand, unreported reformulations, and for imports the audit is the foreign certifier’s |
| Is it stricter than UK certification? | Broader in scope (logistics, naming); on slaughter the rules are Indonesia’s own and are applied per market |
Look up any E-code from an Indonesian pack in the E-codes database.
To scan a full ingredient list for halal status in seconds, use the ingredient scanner.
For how Indonesia’s system compares with Malaysia’s, see Malaysia vs Indonesia halal requirements; for the products themselves, our Indonesian snacks and Indonesian chocolate guides.
How we reached this guide
We checked the following sources before publishing:
- BPJPH Head’s Decree No. 20 of 2023 on the Criteria for the Halal Product Assurance System, as summarised by the Muslim Consumer Council of Canada’s Indonesian requirements page: the five criteria, the high-risk material categories, the slaughter requirements, and the duty to report changes.
- Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Assurance and Government Regulation 42 of 2024: BPJPH as issuer; fatwa from MUI or another recognised body; halal inspection bodies as auditors.
- BPJPH Decree No. 301 of 2026 (enacted 31 August 2026): exempt materials and products.
- BPJPH Regulation No. 3 of 2026: form and manner of the non-halal statement on products made from haram materials.
- LPPOM MUI, HAS 23000: the eleven-criteria predecessor standard, for the historical comparison.
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service GAIN reports ID2024-0005 and ID2026-0034: foreign certifier recognition scope and the import timetable.
No product verdict is given in this guide. Verdicts on individual Indonesian brands live on their own pages.
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