Investigating the Compliance of Non-Muslim Production Workers on Halal Requirements in a Halal-Certified Food Company: A Case Study

Abstract

Malaysia has become a country where most of the population is Muslim and has contributed to a significant role to halal matters. As a country with many races, ethnicities and religions, Malaysia does not prevent non-Muslim from working in any sector in a manufacturing company that holds halal certification either in production, administration, or operation. In fact, lack of information and knowledge capacity on halal requirements is also considered as one of the most challenges part in implementing halal management system. This study aims to determine the understanding level of non-Muslim production workers on the halal standards and requirements; and to investigate the challenges faced in implementing daily practices in the production area. The data was collected using interviews and analysed by thematic analysis using NVivo. A total of five informants were selected by a combination of purposive sampling and snowball sampling technique among the non-Muslim production workers. The result shows that the non-Muslim production workers understood halal standards and requirements despite their limited knowledge. They also claimed that they faced no challenges while working in a halal manufacturing company. Hence, the significant of this study provides information to enhance customers' trust, provides a better insight to the understanding of the non-Muslim production workers for the industry players.