Consumer Protection of Halal Meat under Islamic Law and Indonesian Regulation

Abstract

This paper provides understanding of consumer protection of halal meat under Islamic law and Indonesian regulation. State protection authority over its people in term of the safety of food consumption is a constitutional obligation. It has to run under constitutional mandate as stipulated in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution. It is to become crucial issue in Indonesia because the most of population are Muslim. Thus, Indonesian people needs to consume halal and good (halalan thoyiban) meat. In the perspective of food consumption protection, meat consumption has become a matter to which a serious attention should be given as the total meat consumption in 2011 was 506,653,006 kg.  Therefore, the government, as the regulator, has formed a legal umbrella by enacting the Consumer Protection Act and Food Act which regulate protection over the safety, convenience, and health of consumed food.  However, in practice, there are still many cases found to violate consumers’ right for having halal and good meat, such as unprotected consumers’ right, low quality slaughter houses, and over-supplied imported meat with uncertain halal principle. This study recommended that a halal advocacy and audit institution be formed, the quality of slaughter houses be improved, and legal umbrella in production, serving, and processing of halal food be formed.

Keywords: consumer protection, halal meat, halal and good (halalan thoyiban), halal food