THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE FORMATION OF HALAL PRODUCT COMMUNITIES BASED ON HALAL CERTIFIED SMES IN TEBING TINGGI

Abstract

Regulation of the Minister of Religion Number 20 of 2021 concerning Halal Certification for Micro and Small Business Actors has encouraged LP3H (Halal Product Process Assistance Institution) to provide assistance to business actors in Tebing Tinggi. The assistance steps that have been carried out are program socialization, administrative fulfillment, product verification, product validation, data finalization / submission, status monitoring. After providing assistance, LP3H needs to carry out activities to form a halal business product community from SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) that have been assisted in the halal certification process. This needs to be done to maintain product quality and foster SME actors as a form of LP3H's accountability to SME actors who have been assisted. The obstacle faced by halal assistants is that the assistants have not been trained in forming and managing halal product communities based on certified SMEs. The purpose of this study is to determine how the effectiveness of the formation of a halal community based on certified SMEs as a valuable asset of The Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH)  in socializing business actors' awareness of the importance of taking care of halal certification and being consistent in maintaining public trust. The research method used is descriptive research method with data processing using qualitative methods. The results of the interviews were analyzed using categorization analysis. To test whether the community that has been formed is effective or not using the N-Gain test. The results of this study reveal that the halal product community based on certified SMEs is effective for socializing the importance of halal management for SMEs, facilitating the guidance of certified business actors and facilitating efforts to maintain consistency in producing halal products in the community.