Halal Slaughterhouse Certification: The Comparison between Two Halal Certification Bodies

This research aimed to provide information regarding the process and requirement of halal slaughterhouse certification implemented in halal certification bodies archival comparison research strategy by using the secondary data. It usedt he comparison of halal slaughterhouse certification process and requirement were conducted between two halal certification bodies, those were Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan, Obat-obatan, dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia (LPPOM MUI The Assessment Institute for Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics Majelis Ulama Indonesia) and Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM Department of Islamic Development Malaysia). From the comparative analysis, the result shows that certification processes of LPPOM MUI and JAKIM are similar with slight differences. There are four main activities during the certification process in both halal certification bodies, namely application process, payment process, audit process, and certificate issuance/decision process. The criteria set by both halal certification bodies, in general, are similar. Those are classified into eight categories, although there are slight differences. The eight categories are halal control/assurance system, human resource, permitted animal, production facilities, storage and transportation, packaging and labeling, slaughtering process, and stunning.

The provision of halal raw material is a prerequisite in the halal products. The source (halal raw material) can be retrieved from an animal or plant. The products using plant and aquatic animal are halal as long as it is safe for the body or does not contain any poison or hazardous material (Arif & Sidek, 2015). Animal which lives on the land is also halal except pigs and its product, carrion, carnivorous animals with claws and fangs, carrion, animals sacrificed in the name of anyone other than Allah, and improperly slaughtered halal animals (Elseidi, 2018;Khan & Haleem, 2016;Lubis, Mohd-Naim, Alizul, & Ahmed, 2016). These provisions are already stated in several Surah and verses in Quran, such as Surah Al-Baqarah verse 173, Surah Al-Maidah verse 3, Surah Al-An'am verse 118, Surah Al-An'am verse 145, Surah An-Nahl verse 115.
The concern regarding animal welfare covers the psychological, physical, and social conditions of the animal during transportation, unloading, and slaughtering in the slaughterhouse. The animal must be in a healthy condition, feel well, and get no injuries (Jacques, 2014). To get the wholesomeness and cleanliness for meat consumption and keep the animal welfare into account, halal product consumers need a halal slaughtering process, which is done correctly and adequately (Aghwan, Bello, Abubakar, Imlan, & Sazili, 2016). In general, the stage of animal slaughtering can be divided into three, namely preslaughtering, slaughtering, and post-slaughtering.
In the pre-slaughtering stage, the animal should be treated humanely, such as having adequate rest, well-feeding, and having proper/comfortable restraint (Rahman, 2017;Farouk et al., 2014). The prevention of any stress, fatigue, or nervousness of animals, which can be caused by dehydration and hunger during transportation, must be done. It is to produce a good quality of meat (Aghwan et al., 2016;Grandin & Shivley, 2015). Animal fasting during transportation has the purpose of reducing the number of bacteria. However, after 12 hours of arrival, the animal will not be slaughtered; they must be fed (Abdullah, Borilova, & Steinhauserova, 2019). When the animal arrives in an abattoir, the stress can be caused by the restraining method. As a solution, stunning before slaughtering can be used to make animals immobile or unconscious, so it will help to reduce their pain during the cut and reduce their distress while dying (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, 2011).
Before conducting the slaughtering, it is preferable to turn the animal toward Mecca (Soon, Chandia, & Regenstein, 2017). It is important to make sure that the animal is still alive before slaughtering. During the slaughtering process, the animal must be slaughtered by using a sharp knife to allow quick flow of blood and immediate loss of consciousness. It is according to hadith that the cut must be made on the neck (just below the gullet and core of the neck), then cut the carotid arteries, jugular veins, trachea, and oesophagus severely, without make the head separated from the main body (Aghwan et al., 2016;Fuseini, Knowles, Lines, Hadley, & Wotton, 2016). The other important thing is, when doing halal slaughtering, the slaughterman must mention Allah's name as mentioned in Qur'an Surah Al-An'am verse 118: "So eat of that (meat) on which Allah's Name has been pronounced (while slaughtering the animal), if you are believers in His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.)." As a guarantee of whether the company already conducts halal slaughtering or not, halal slaughterhouse certification can be used as the solution. Halal certification is a proof of the products which already follow and cover the Islamic dietary guideline (Majid, Abidin, Majid, & Chik, 2015). It becomes a critical success factor of the halal supply chain due to its role as a precedent for other components and activities during the halal supply chain (Ab Talib, Hamid, & Zulfakar, 2015). After halal certification owned by the company, the company can attach the halal logo on its product. Halal logo is the item which can influence consumers' buying decision for a halal food product. The logo does not only indicate the food is sold/ prepared following Sharia, but the food product also is wholesome, clean, and healthy (Ab Talib & Mohd Johan, 2012).
The growing number of Muslim populations around the world makes the demand for halal products increase. This is due to the need for halal status as an essential requirement for Muslim consumption. In halal product, the provision of halal material becomes the main concern, especially for industries which use the animal as the basic ingredients. Due to those issues, this research aims to provide information regarding the current halal slaughterhouse certification process and requirement, which is rare to be discussed by previous researchers. The information is based on the current policy, which is implemented in two halal certification bodies. Those are Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan, Obat-obatan, dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia (LPPOM MUI -The Assessment Institute for Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics Majelis Ulama Indonesia) and Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM -Department of Islamic Development Malaysia). JAKIM is chosen because Malaysia is the leading country of the global Islamic economy for five years in a row (Thomson Reuters, 2018).
Meanwhile, LPPOM MUI is chosen because Indonesia is one of the countries with a large population of Muslims. According to Diamant (2019), Indonesia was the country with the largest Muslims in the world in 2015 (219 million people). It will increase to 253 million people in 2050 (the fourth largest in the world in 2050).

METHODS
To get comprehensive information about the process and requirement of halal slaughterhouse certification in JAKIM and MUI, the researchers choose archival comparative study strategy using secondary data as the method. The secondary data are from JAKIM and MUI website and their manual guidelines. By using thematic analysis, the analysis starts from reading the data from available sources (secondary data). This reading process is done more than once to make the researchers familiar with the content. After that, the coding process is conducted by marking the important information which is related to the process and requirement of halal slaughterhouse certification. All coded data are examined to define several general themes. Next, several general themes are examined again and refined. In the end, the researchers divide the certification of the process into four activities. Meanwhile, the requirement is divided into eight categories.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The first finding is regarding the description of the certification process that companies must go through when they apply for halal certification. Each halal certification bodies will have their policy in issuing halal certification. The process of the halal slaughterhouse of LPPOM MUI and JAKIM is slightly different, but in general, four main activities can be found. Those are an application process, payment process, audit process, and halal certificate issuance process. First, in the application process stage, the company must prepare all the necessary documents as requested by the certification bodies. The company can submit it to the system. Halal documents that must be prepared and uploaded by the company are presented in Table 1 (see Appendices). Second, in the payment process stage, the number of fees paid during the certification process and the time of payment are different for each halal certification bodies. The payment policies from LPPOM MUI and JAKIM are presented in Table 2 (see Appendices).
The result shows that the application process is the initial process that must be done by the company.
It is done by preparing all related information or document as requested by halal certification bodies. The document requested among two certification bodies depend on the policy that they have. However, in general, the requirements needed are the company's profile, product name and description, the flow chart, and procedure of production process, the material used during production, and the address of manufacture in both halal certification bodies.
After the submission of all required information and documents, the desktop audit will be conducted to check its completeness. If any shortcoming is found, the company must correct it as soon as possible. The company knows this shortcoming from the official notification letter (memorandum) sent by the auditor to the company (JAKIM) or based on their selfmonitoring of the application status on the website (LPPOM MUI). Failing to correct it will make the application be rejected. On the contrary, when the company passes the desktop audit process, the on-site audit can be conducted. The process is in Table 3 (see  Appendices).
The decision to conduct an on-site audit by halal certification bodies does not only depend on the audit passed status, but also whether the company makes the payment or not. The payment time is different. It can be after registration (LPPOM MUI) or before on-site audit (LPPOM MUI and JAKIM). Thus, in LPPOM MUI, the payment is conducted twice. Meanwhile, in JAKIM, the payment is only once. After the halal certification bodies complete this on-site audit stage, the halal certification bodies will conduct a final review or meet to decide whether they will issue halal certification or not. LPPOM MUI called this activity as "Fatwa Commission meeting", while in JAKIM mentions it as "Malaysia Halal Certification Panel Meeting". Passing this stage means that the company can get halal certification (see Table 4 in Appendices).
The second finding is about the criteria which must be prepared by the companies before they apply for halal certification. Table 5  In this reserach, those criteria are divided into eight categories. Those are halal control/assurance systems, human resources, permitted animal, production facilities, storage and transportation, labeling and packaging, slaughtering process, and stunning. The tick sign means the criteria are listed explicitly in the guideline and must be fulfilled by the company to obtain halal certification. From all listed criteria in Table 5 (see Appendices), the result shows that JAKIM and LPPOM MUI has similar criteria with slight differences. From the analysis, JAKIM and LPPOM MUI require the company to fulfill all criteria listed in four categories. The first category is the halal control/assurance system. Both halal certification bodies require the company to have halal assurance or control their system to ensure the implementation of halal practice within the slaughterhouse. Those systems must be disseminated to all stakeholders involved during the process. The second category is the permitted animal category. Both LPPOM MUI and JAKIM agree that for the halal slaughterhouse, the animal must be halal, and they must be alive or deemed to be alive before slaughtering. The third category is storage and transportation. In this category, both JAKIM and LPPOM MUI emphasize the prevention of cross-contamination between halal and non-halal products as the main concern. It is reflected from the need of a clear label, a dedicated place for storage, and clear physical segregation in the criteria list. The fourth category is the stunning category. Both of halal certification bodies agree that the stunned animal must be alive and do not get any injuries before the slaughtering process. To achieve this condition, slaughterhouse needs to employ qualified Muslim workers who understand how to conduct a stunning process, according to Sharia. For acceptance, several Muslim countries or Islamic authorities already accept the certain technique of stunning as long as the animal still alive at the time of cutting (Aghwan et al., 2016;Velarde et al., 2014). The types of allowed stunning techniques before slaughtering also depend on the Islamic school of thought. For example, stunning bovine animals in Malaysia is allowed (Shaf'I school of thought). However, it is not allowed in Pakistan, Russia, or Poland (Hanafi School of Thought) (Lever & Miele, 2012).
Meanwhile, for the other categories, the result is similar, with little differences. From the human resource category, both LPPOM MUI and JAKIM require the company to have a halal management team. The team consists of well trained, healthy, and baligh Muslim resources. They should understand their duties (implementing a halal control/assurance system). The differences are in how they divide and name the division in the halal management team. In LPPOM MUI, they are divided into three divisions (halal slaughterman, halal supervisor, and stunning operator). In JAKIM, they divide them into four types (halal slaughterman, halal supervisor, halal checker, and halal head checker). The function of the halal checker in JAKIM is similar to the function embedded in the LPPOM MUI supervisor. Both of them check the slaughtering or stunning process, which is done following protocol. The same situation is also applied to the stunning operator. Even though this division is not explicitly mentioned in JAKIM, since halal stunning is allowed in JAKIM, the operator for stunning must exist.
In the production facilities category, it is divided into two sub-categories (tools and premises). The highlight in this category is the condition of tools and premises which must be dedicated to producing the halal product. Then, the condition of the knife must be sharp. In the labeling and packaging category, the detail of information required by LPPOM MUI and JAKIM is slightly different. However, in general, it is found that the halal status of the material of packaging and information of labels such as country origin, net weight, and the name and address of manufacturer/ slaughterhouse becomes the important item for this category. The slaughtering process must have qualified Muslim slaughterers and animal types and conditions before and after slaughtering. They must conduct the slaughtering by using a sharp tool and doing it only in one blow with the completely cut trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, and jugular veins. These are the critical criteria found in this category.
From the explanation, the researchers point three basic requirements of the halal slaughterhouse. First, the animal must be in good condition (healthy) and alive before slaughtering, and only a qualified Muslim worker or skilled Muslim worker can do this slaughtering process. The human error during slaughtering and the stunning process usually happen due to unskilled, non-obedient religiously, non-certified workers (Maman, Mahbubi, & Jie, 2018;Tieman & Hassan, 2015). On the other hand, by having a qualified Muslim worker, the halal slaughtering process is deemed to be more achievable because those workers usually have halal awareness. For example, they make sure that the animal is still alive after stunning and before slaughtering. They know how to conduct slaughtering in accordance with Sharia (using a sharp tool to cut trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, and jugular veins of animal and doing it only in one blow). Additionally, in post slaughtering, they not only ensure that the animal is dead but also check whether the blood is completely drained or not. It is to prevent any bacteria growth (Nakyinsige et al., 2014).
The second concern of keeping the halal status of the product is by segregating halal products with nonhalal products or hazardous products. It is to prevent any cross-contamination. This cross-contamination mostly happens when halal material/product moves from one place to another place or from one stage to another stage. The packaging of halal products must be taken into consideration to prevent contamination. In logistics activity, packaging has a role in loading, protecting, and handling goods during the delivery and distribution process. However, in halal context, the function also includes its role in protecting the halal product from cross-contamination with nonhalal products (Ab Talib & Mohd Johan, 2012). The prevention of cross-contamination with hazardous material also becomes a concern. It is because, when halal products become hazardous, it means the cleanliness (tayyiban) of the halal products no longer exists (Jaafar, Faisol, Rahman, & Muhammad, 2016).
Third, it is a stage of the audit process. LPPOM MUI and JAKIM have similar audit process. Both of them conducted two types of audits. Those are documentation evaluation/pre-audit and audit. The explanation of the audit process can be seen in Table 3 (see Appendices). Fourth, it is the certification issuance/ decision process stage. The certificate issuance process in LPPOM MUI and JAKIM is similar. Those also have two outputs whether the company can get the certification or not. Table 4 (see Appendices) presents the main point of the certificate issuance/decision process. To get a better picture of how the certification process is conducted, the flow chart of the certification process from each halal certification body is presented in Figures 1 and 2.

CONCLUSIONS
Halal certification is an assurance for the quality of the halal product. From the consumers' position, halal certification makes it easy to recognize whether the product is halal or not. Meanwhile, for the company, it can be used as a way to reach a competitive advantage by grabbing the new markets and sell their products internationally. In halal products, getting halal raw material becomes the requirement that must be fulfilled. Halal raw material from the animal must be obtained from the halal process. It starts with halal slaughtering. Halal slaughterhouse certification can be used as an assurance that the animal-based raw material is still halal until the consumers receive it. The certification can only be issued by halal certification bodies such as LPPOM MUI and JAKIM. The process to get halal slaughterhouse certification for those halal certification bodies is similar with slight differences. Four main activities can be found during the certification process (application process, payment process, audit process, and certificate issuance/ decision process).
Same as the process, the criteria set by each halal certification body for obtaining the certificate also similar to slight differences. The comparison of 108 criteria from eight categories (halal control/ assurance system, human resource, permitted animal, production facilities, storage and transportation, labeling and packaging, slaughtering process, and stunning) is conducted to get a better picture regarding the criteria. The company must fulfill the criteria before they apply for the certification. The unchecked criteria are not mentioned explicitly in the manual guideline. However, it does not mean the certification bodies do not require the company to fulfill those criteria. Thus, it is suggested to the applicants who will do the certification process make a verification directly to the halal certification bodies.
From the analysis, several important criteria from each category are found. First, it is having and disseminating the halal control/assurance system (halal control/assurance system category). Second, well trained, baligh, and healthy Muslim halal management team is needed on the slaughterhouse (human resource category). Third, the animal must be halal by nature and alive or deemed to be alive before slaughtering (permitted animal category). Fourth, the team has dedicated tools and premises (only use to produce a halal product) and uses a sharp knife to slaughter (production facilities category). Fifth, clear labels, a dedicated place, and clear physical segregation are needed (storage and transportation category). Sixth, halal packaging material provides the information (country origin, net weight, the name and address of manufacturer/ slaughterhouse) on the label (labeling and packaging category). Seventh, qualified Muslim slaughterer only uses a sharp tool to cut trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, and jugular veins in one blow (slaughtering category). Eighth, the stunned halal animal must be alive and get no injuries after stunning (stunning category). From all of those important requirements, the researchers conclude that the origins and conditions of a slaughtered animal, qualified Muslim worker, and the prevention of crosscontamination between halal and non-halal products become the main concern in the fulfillment of halal slaughterhouse requirement.
The result of this research can be used as the information for industries that want to get halal slaughterhouse certification or as a benchmark for the other country that wants to adopt the same type of certification. The result of this research is only based on the information retrieved from two halal certification bodies (LPPOM MUI and JAKIM). Therefore, to get richer information regarding the process and requirement of halal slaughterhouse certification, the further study involved a comparison with other countries is needed. For new application, it can upload a blank document 5. Flow chart of the production process of the product to be certified

APPENDICES
• One flow-diagram is sufficient for each type of product (no need for all product) 6. Pork-free facility statement • Owners' statement regarding the status of the production facility which is only used to produce halal product 7. The list of all production facility address • Production facilities, in this case, are all production facilities involved in critical activities, which cover:    Registration fee Pay IDR220.000 (must be done within ten days after registration)

Contract fee
The amount is based on the contract which LPPOM MUI finance department makes

JAKIM (Source: Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, 2015)
Registration fee The amount depends on the size of premises, type of animal, and daily production   Submit the report of audit result (including all related supporting documents) that is already proven by the auditor team to the Fatwa Commission Meeting. During the meeting, the product sample is presented. This meeting is conducted every week.
• The Auditing Division will send a memorandum to the company regarding the thing that must be followed up by the company if the meeting decides that the company does still not fulfill the criteria. When the company follows up, the report will be discussed again in the next Fatwa Commission Meeting; or • The company (slaughterhouse) has to send a list of slaughter men, method of slaughtering, and the method of stunning signed by the company. This activity is only conducted if the Fatwa Commission already stipulates the halal status of the product. This list later will be signed by LPPOM MUI Director and become the reference for LPPOM MUI and company.

JAKIM (Source: Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, 2015)
Send the report of audit inspection to Malaysia Halal Certification Panel Meeting.
• The company will receive an official notification letter from JAKIM if they fail the certification; or • JAKIM will issue Malaysia Halal Certificate if panel meeting agrees that all requirements are already approved