IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING THE WEIGHTS OF HALAL COMPLIANCE RATING (HCR) COMPONENTS OF BEST HALAL PRACTICES BY APPLYING AHP METHOD

The halal industry in restaurant chain is lacking a rating system that would help the consumers to choose their preferences and enhance the halal integrity. In this regard, as a first step to develop a halal compliance rating (HCR) tool, the objective of this research is to identify and select the components of best halal practices for restaurants. This was achieved by reviewing existing relevant rating systems, standards, and research papers. The selected ten components were weighed by applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method of decision making through the participation of 15 experts where the maximum priority was given to ‘Hygiene and Food Safety (HFS)’ component with a weightage of 22.3%. The least priority was given to ‘Branding, Packaging, and Labelling (BPL)’ with a weightage of 4.4%. The consistency ratio was checked as 0.015. Additionally, the study investigates the auditable and measurable areas of the selected ten HCR components

Exploring whistle-blowing intention among employees in Halal-certified food companies

Whistleblowing is one of the countermeasures proposed to reduce the vulnerability of the halal food supply chain. Despite the importance of whistleblowing as a monitoring mechanism, limited studies were conducted concerning whistleblowing intentions in the halal food sector. This research is proposed to fill the gap. The primary objective of this study is to learn the employees’ perspectives about whistle-blowing. The findings provide new knowledge and guidance on the framework model on the whistleblowing intentions among employees. This will serve well with the needs of the halal food industry players, agencies and companies and policymaker

Overview of the halal food control system in Malaysia

Awareness of the complexity in the global food chain, combined with several major halal food issues and scandals, are an impetus for major changes in the halal food control system in Malaysia. Malaysia holds a special position in the global halal market as the first country that assigns a government agency to regulate its halal matters and certification. This article describes and discusses the system for halal food control in Malaysia as framed by five important components for an effective national food control system: halal food legislation; halal food management control; inspection; laboratory; and education, communication, and training. Significant improvement has been made on the system; however, a few issues and challenges persist

A Bibliometric Analysis of Agarwood Research, 1959-2021

Agarwood, is a fragrant resinous wood unique due to its peculiarity of being formed and harvested only from diseased trees of certain genus of Thymelaeaceae. It has survived years of history and established itself in the modern agarwood value chain. It is only logical that the progress has been fueled by scientific research carried out over the years. This current review is the first bibliometric study to uncover the agarwood research trend across the many themes. Bibliometric data were extracted from Scopus database in March 2021 using the search term ‘agarwood’ within the year 1959 to 2021. A total of 513 records were analysed using VosViewer and Publish or Perish software. Collectively, the articles were cited 6216 times with citations per year of 100.26 and h-index of 42. The top-contributing countries were China, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia. Most of the publications were in the area of agricultural and biological sciences; biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology; chemistry; and pharmacology/pharmaceutics. The early years of agarwood research was focused on chemical compounds followed by studies on biological effects before the themes became varied in the last ten years. Critical knowledge gaps identified include safety of agarwood and its related materials, translational link between proof of concept and clinical applications as well as role of agarwood in socioeconomic development of a nation. Altogether, this work could be used as a landscape to chart the future research that leverage agarwood-producing trees as economic plant species towards progressive yet sustainable socioeconomic development and benefit to mankind

Core competencies of the halal executive from the practitioners’ perspective

Malaysia strives to accelerate the growth of its halal industry and attain its vision of being a global halal centre for innovation, production, and commerce. In attaining the vision, human competency and capability building through competent halal executives is important. It is in fact, one of the success factors in supporting comprehensive and future development of the Malaysian halal industry. Prior research, however, has revealed issues regarding halal executives’ competency. To fill the gap, 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with halal executives to identify the core competencies that were most related to their job performance. The identification of core competencies could aid in the development of guidelines that can be used to inform halal policymakers. These identified core competencies could also inform the industry about the recruitment of halal executives, their placement, training, and succession planning

Halalan toyyiban concept as religious-based intervention for healthy diet among youth

Healthy youth eating habits are crucial for optimal growth and development. It helps build a strong immune system and reduces the risk of chronic diseases. In Islam, there is a focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including a healthy diet, guided by the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad( صلى الله عليه وسلم). The article uses a narrative review to highlight the potential applicability of the halalan toyyiban concept (as a faith-based intervention) to promote a healthy diet among youth. Faith-based intervention involves integrating religious beliefs into the intervention process. To provide context, this article explores the application of interventions such as multimodal nutrition education and digital approaches to improve dietary habits among youth. Various interventions targeting university students' dietary habits yielded mixed results. This highlights the necessity for multifaceted intervention approaches. The article posits combining the halalan toyyiban concept with digital technology to enhance university students' healthy dietary practices