Halal food supply chain and halal integrity assurance model

Abstract

The halal integrity assurance is one of the major concerns of most Muslim consumers around the world. Halal integrity is regarded as an important issue in halal industry, since without it, the halal market may be jeopardized and halal industry may not be relevant to the consumers. Halal food consumers are now more aware of the authenticity of halal products status. Consumers are keen to know whether all the activities involved along the supply chain for halal products which they purchase are genuinely halal as the products move upstream and downstream of the supply chain. Even though the issue of halal integrity is widely discussed within the halal food industry, the factors assuring the integrity of halal food supply chain are yet to be discussed effectively from the perspectives of both academic and halal industry players. Thus, the primary aim of this study is to examine the existing halal food supply chain model, its influence on halal integrity assurance, and the influence of Halal Assurance and Halal Traceability System. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were employed in this study. The industry survey and case study were empirically experimented to test concepts and provide practical solutions for halal industry players to optimize their halal food supply chain integrity assurance. The survey questionnaire data was acquired from 121 companies in the halal food industries. The response rate was at 26.5% of the original sample population. Various data analysis tools had been used to analyse the data such as reliability and factor analysis, multiple linear regression, moderated hierarchical regression and test of differences. Both halal food supply chain management and halal integrity assurance form the background against which this study was conducted. It was found that halal supply chain of food and beverages industries have positive effect on halal integrity assurance. Both supply chain business process and network structure dimensions of halal food supply chain had been found to have a significant effect on halal integrity assurance. It was also found that Halal Assurance and Halal Traceability System have moderated halal food supply chain and halal integrity assurance relationships. Halal Assurance System as a moderator was empirically found to influence the relationship between supply chain resources and halal integrity assurance. As a conclusion, Halal Traceability System was found to influence the supply chain logistics control and supply chain resources-halal integrity assurance relationship. The outcome of this study suggests that new focus and solutions are required to reduce the vulnerability in the halal food supply chain to optimize the halal integrity assurance.