The Understanding Towards The Ingredients Of The Imported Chocolates Without Jakim Halal Certification: A Survey From Food Experts And Opinion Leaders

As customers become more knowledgeable of the halal product in terms of halal certification, halal regulations and halal raw ingredients, the availability of a variety of chocolate products is growing. This situation makes the consumers continue to have concerns about the quality, sanitation, and halal status of chocolate products, particularly the ingredients of the chocolate. The issue arises when the languages used on the packaging and labels of the imported chocolates cannot be understood by the consumer of importing country. In addition, there are a variety of ingredients from unknown sources that can be a threat to the halal status of imported chocolate. Thus, this research is conducted to assess the food experts and opinion leaders particularly from the Halal Management Unit Division of Sarawak Islamic Religion Department and Halal Industry Management, Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies (ACIS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam regarding their understanding of the halal status and ingredients of imported chocolates without Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) halal certification and the uncertainties associated with the products. The study adopts a quantitative method where the primary data were collected by surveying the food experts and opinion leaders. The collected data were analysed using descriptive analysis. The findings showed that the food experts and opinion leaders agreed that the list of the ingredients itself is not enough to reassure the consumers that the chocolate product without the halal logo is indeed halal as the processing of the chocolate includes the usage of several critical ingredients such as emulsifier, milk, fat and oil, flavouring and colouring.