HALAL SCIENCE CURRICULUM AND RESEARCH: DEVELOPMENT AMONG ORGANISATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION (OIC) COUNTRIES

Norhidayu Muhamad Zain¹⁺ --- Nasrul Hisham Nor Muhamad² --- Ahmad Che Yaacob³ --- Sayed Mahussain Sayed Ahmad⁴

¹ Faculty of Islamic Civilisation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia; Centre for Sustainable Nanomaterials, Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Skudai Johor, Malaysia

^2,3,3Faculty of Islamic Civilisation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

Keywords:Halal curriculum, Halal studies, Scientific research, Halal trainings, Halal industry, OIC countries.

ARTICLE HISTORY: Received: 19 May 2017, Revised: 10 July 2017, Accepted: 2 August 2017, Published: 22 August 2017

1. INTRODUCTION

The “halal” term comes from Arabic word which means “allowed”, “permitted” or “lawful”. According to Syariah Law (Islamic Jurispridence), halal can be translated as something that will not cause the doer any punishment for using it or something that is in line with the Shariah law. Generally, ingredients that derived from animals such as pigs, dogs, predators and carrion are considered haram (opposite of halal) and strictly prohibited. In the modern and globalized industry, halal scope has been broaden not only for food but also biotechnology and care products. The use of haram materials as adulterant or additives in products especially food and beverages are also forbidden. In addition, alcohol and other harmful or poisonous ingredients are prohibited to be consumed under the Syariah Law. The concept of halal has obtained tremendous attention due to increased number of Muslim population worldwide and the needs to cater the global halal market.

The global halal industry has recorded immense growth in the past few years with the worth of entire halal industry is estimated to be USD 2.1 trillion annually (Fischer, 2016). The rapid growth is driven by a few notable factors: growth in the global Muslim population (the major consumer of halal products); increasing demand for high quality and safe products; strong growth in household incomes of major consumers; rising demand from non-Muslim consumers; and increasing confidence in genuine halal products (Bohari et al., 2013). It offers vast opportunities for international business firms in various industries including food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and personal care, tourism, Islamic banking and logistic. The large, lucrative and underserved Muslim market is a major factor that makes the international halal trade particularly attractive to major key countries among OIC members. In fact, a single collective halal market worth about US$ 1.37 trillion, greater than that of China (US$ 857 billion), the United States (US$ 768 billion), Japan (US$ 445 billion) and India (US$ 434 billion) (International Trade Centre, 2015).

Since the establishment of the Organization of Islamic (OIC) in 1969, there have been tremendous efforts in promoting economic and trade cooperation among member countries (Abidin et al., 2013). Indeed, there is a clear drive to establish intra-OIC trade in order to facilitate the development of the Islamic economy sectors. The establishment of various trade-agreements among the 57 mostly Muslim-majority member countries OIC countries is expected to increase the growth of global halal market. For instance, the trade between Malaysia and UAE reached $8.0 billion in 2012, facilitating Islamic finance and halal food market (Reuters, 2015). Notably, the OIC countries are also supportive of both trade and consumption activities. Based on ITC (2015) top OIC countries with Muslim consumer food consumption are Indonesia ($190 billion), Turkey ($168 billion), Pakistan ($108 billion), Iran ($97 billion), Egypt ($95 billion), Bangladesh ($60 billion), Saudi Arabia ($53 billion), Nigeria ($38 billion), Iraq ($35 billion) and Algeria ($35 billion). Nevertheless, most of these countries are also known as food producers with a dynamic domestic market which slightly  reduce the chance as automatic target markets for international trade and exports. As reported by ITC (2015) Middle East and North Africa are the key regions of Muslim consumer market especially food and beverage sector.

In response to the global market demand for Halal products and services, a few OIC countries took an initiative to design a specific area that eventually will be known as the world Halal Hub. The word ‘hub’ is practically means ‘centre’, ‘core’, ‘nucleus’ and ‘critical mass’. Therefore, in this context the Halal Hub comprises of Halal manufacturers, Halal traders, Halal suppliers, Halal buyers, and Halal consumers worldwide (Muhammad et al., 2009; Abdul and Rozailin, 2013). Becoming a world Halal Hub provide a vast opportunity for a country to boost the economic growth. However, there are certain requirements needed in developing the world Halal Hub. The key considerations in establishing a Halal hub include availability of human capital, the roles of media, infrastructure, public and governmental support, capability of the country, marketing strategy and advanced research and development in the halal related field (Borzooei and Maryam, 2013). Furthermore, the strong linkage among producers, consumers and halal certification body can be an added value for a country to be recognized as a world Halal Hub.

In order to establish a world Halal Hub, the development of human capital and research are vitally important. The exposure of halal education at the early stages is needed to cater the needs of manpower in the future. The fundamental understanding of halal has undeniably help the Muslim consumers in taking halal into greater awareness in the last few decades. Competent and certified staffs are needed due to massive production of halal products by multinational companies which require serious attention to the manufacturing process, logistic, contents and ingredients of products Ahmad et al. (2011). Owing to flourishing halal business, halal has been upgraded from its traditional understanding to the modern one and therefore a special attention has to be given to halal studies and research. As an academic term, halal studies can be defined as scientific knowledge with multidisciplinary program which is based on halal concept or halal framework. The simple knowledge of traditional halal term in the past is inadequate to cope well with the advance technology in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other personal care production today. Halal Studies which can be taught in the higher learning institution can provide specific knowledge dedicated to fulfil the needs human capital for halal business. In line with this increasing knowledge of halal, the Halal Studies have to be supported by great scientific research that can enhance the contribution of science and technology in determining the authenticity of food and inventing advanced equipment. Thus, this paper will focus on the roles and contribution of Halal curriculum and scientific research in fulfilling the needs of knowledgeable and competent manpower in the Halal field.

2. AUTHORISED BODIES FOR HALAL CERTIFICATION IN OIC NATIONS

In the last few decades, new patterns of production and trades continue to emerge due to the evolution of global landscape of market. The trades based on the needs and preferences of the estimated nearly 2 billion Muslim worldwide has emerged as a powerful commercial arena. It was reported out of the total Muslim population, 1.4 billion resided in various OIC nations (Latif et al., 2014). The phenomenon known as the global halal market has creates a new horizon of opportunity for enterprises especially among OIC countries to take advantage of this multi trillion market of the halal sector. This sector has been transformed from an exclusive niche market for Muslim consumers into dynamic global market with increasing growth potential. In fact, the demand for halal certified products among non-Muslim consumers has been increased since more consumers are looking for high quality, safe and ethical products. The halal industry covers a vast different sectors such as food and beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, personal care products, tourism and hospitality, finance and logistics. In this particular market, the regulation is a must and Halal certification will play a crucial role in ensuring the safety, authenticity and quality of the certified products or services.

In the predominantly Muslim countries such as Arab countries in the Middle East or in North Africa, Halal certification is specifically required for poultry products only. In contrast, in the multiracial countries or Muslim minority countries, Halal certification is obviously needed due to a large proportion of halal products were either imported from developed countries or produced by non-Muslim locally. However, because of the rapid growth global trade starting 1970s, even the Muslim majority countries were also doing trades with Europe, Asia and the United States. The concern of Halal status of certain food containing meat or animal derivatives resulted in the demand for Halal certification in the exporting countries. Therefore, several halal certification bodies were established in order to ensure and to regulate the procedure for halal certification. In total there are 122 active halal certifying bodies worldwide including those within OIC nations to monitor and ensure halal status of the products (Mustafa and Mohd, 2012). Most of the OIC nations have their own recognized authority bodies or halal certification bodies that differ from one to another depends on the regulation set up by each country (Table 1). Since there were no standard rules and regulations that have been applied to all the countries for establishment of Halal certification bodies, the decision whether to accept products certified by these bodies was totally depends on the consuming countries (Latif et al., 2014).

Since there is no consensus on a global Halal standard, disagreements over certain issues such as slaughtering methods, packaging, logistics and animal feed were always happened (Mustafa and Mohd, 2012). The need for one global halal standard which is recognized by all importing countries is vitally important to rectify the misunderstanding of certain issues and to simplify the procedure for halal certification. Indeed, uniform halal standard among OIC countries has been proposed to provide the worldwide benchmark for Halal food product certification including in non-Muslim countries (Mustafa and Mohd, 2012). There are five main factors that should be taken into consideration when establishing global halal standard which are mazhab, science, industry, ummah and Shariah (Mustafa and Mohd, 2012).  Based on the lists of criteria given by the various authorized bodies, nine main categories of Halal requirements with each categories comprises several items have been identified (Latif et al., 2014).

3. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF HALAL STUDIES AMONG OIC COUNTRIES

OIC nations have taken halal into great concern by providing comprehensive platforms for discussion, meeting and trades among its members. These platforms present a prime opportunity for the members to interact and discuss the current issues regarding halal. Human capital development in Halal industry is an important issue that has been discussed. It is vitally important to develop a curriculum dedicated for halal studies in order to cater the strong demand for huge employment opportunities created in the job market. Academically, halal studies is a compilation of scientific knowledge with multidisciplinary program that is based on halal framework (Ahmad et al., 2011). A proper curriculum dedicated for halal can be taught at the higher level institution so that the industry players have the ability to manage their halal business efficiently.  A short one day halal course is no longer sufficient to grow a competent, well-trained, knowledgeable and skilful human resource. The issue of competent manpower and resources has been arisen due to the complexity of halal certification procedure and the consistency to keep the industry in a right path. Therefore, an effort to establish a comprehensive module which is specifically designed to train competent workforce for halal industry should be taken seriously. We are going to discuss five case studies that represent five different OIC nations which are Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Pakistan and Thailand (observer) in developing their own halal curriculum and research.

Malaysia

In a multiracial country like Malaysia, where the non-Muslim Chinese business community produces much of the food, the need for halal verification is overwhelming. Moreover, Malaysia holds a special position in expanding halal market globally through its government support, research and development, policymaking and human capital development. Malaysia’s official halal standard, MS1500:2009 has been published by Department of Standards Malaysia and has become a global benchmark in halal certification procedure. The surge in interest in the global halal market over the past decade has opened a new window of opportunity for the development of halal training programs, formal studies and research in Malaysia. The roles of governmental bodies and various halal research centres in the local universities and private sectors in establishing the curriculum and research suitable to cater the industry have been taken seriously.

The halal industry in Malaysia is consistently supported by a number of academic programs and researches in both public universities’ research centres and private sectors which are dedicated to enhance the quality of human resource. For instance, Halal Products Research Institute (HPRI), Universiti Putra Malaysia has been established in 2003 with the objective to be a centre of excellence in the field of halal product research and halal professional services. Other public universities which have a research centre dedicated for halal research and development and professionally involve in providing services to public are CFIRST, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Halal Research and Management (IHRAM) and Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM). Most of these university research centres are focusing on two critical areas of Halal which are Halal Management and Halal Scientific Research. Apart from offering various academic degree at diploma, bachelor, masters and doctoral levels in the field of Halal studies, these centres also provide training programs for professionals,  industrial practitioners, academicians and public (Table 3). Additionally, halal authentication analysis and halal consultation for local and international companies are the services that have been provided professionally by these centres under JAKIM supervision. Other governmental body that professionally involve in developing Malaysia Halal industry is Halal Development Corporation (HDC) which was established in 2006. HDC has also offered various programs such as Halal short courses, Program Go Halal!, Halal auditing courses and Halal Executive programs to develop competent halal human capital. Private companies and other governmental bodies such as Johor Biotech, Melaka Biotech, Technology Park Malaysia and HALVEC are also professionally involve in providing Halal related services. Under “The Halal Industry Master Plan”, Malaysia has allocated a part of the funding to develop Halal Laboratories. For instance, Johor Government has allocated RM 500 thousand to develop Johor Halalan Toyyiban Roadmap (JHTR)  and RM 5 million to establish Johor Toyyiban Laboratories Sdn Bhd (JTLab) (Johor, 2017).  The commitment of Malaysia to be a Global Halal Hub by developing halal curriculum and research at different academic level especially at the higher academic institution level is a crucial factor for development of halal human capital.

Indonesia

Indonesia is known as a country with the largest Muslim population in the world with an estimated 87% of its population represents by Muslim (Prabowo et al., 2015). Muslims denote the dominant majority of the population in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi and North Maluku (Ratanamaneichat and Sakchai, 2013). Due to this fact, Indonesia possesses a huge potential market in halal business. Nevertheless, the national awareness of Halal food just appeared after the establishment of The Assessment Institute for Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics, the Indonesian Council of Ulama (AIFDC ICU, or LPPOM-MUI) in 1989. Since then, the awareness and demand for Halal products were rapidly increased and this lead Indonesia to become a great lucrative market for Halal business. In line with the fast growing of halal business, economic and political conditions, Indonesia today is mentioned as one of the top countries with Muslim consumer food consumption, represents $190.4 billion  [HNM1]. One of the driving factors of the fast growing halal market is the emergence of educated middle class who are easily assimilate to the global development and yet are still firmly hold to the Islamic values (Wilson, 2013; Prabowo et al., 2015).

As mentioned before, The Indonesian Council of Ulama (ICU) (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI) is the renowned organizing body that hold the responsibility to issue the halal certification in Indonesia. By establishing the Assessment Institute for Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics (AIFDC) (Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan, Obat-obatan dan Kosmetika, LPPOM) on January 6, 1989 in Jakarta, the halal certification in Indonesia becomes more systematic. The role of LPPOM in assisting MUI as an authoritative Halal certifying body in Indonesia is supported by the involvement of the LPPOM members with various expertise. The members are consist of competent scientists from multidisciplinary fields such as chemistry, biochemistry, food science and technology, veterinary and agro-industry (Ratanamaneichat and Sakchai, 2013). The needs for competent human resources to cater the development of Halal market in Indonesia, especially in the field of research and development has urged the establishment of halal research centre.  Therefore, Bogor Agricultural University has established Halal Science Centre in 2008 to assist halal inspection and certification process by LPPOM-MUI. The centre provides laboratory analysis services to verify the content of the products free from haram ingredients. In addition, the research also has been focusing on the development of efficient detection methods of haram contaminants or materials. The establishment of collaborative networking regarding academic, laboratory and information with other national and international organisations in Malaysia and Thailand has been initiated to sharpen the development of halal research. There are a number of other activities being initiated by the halal centre such as developing database regarding Halal products, haram contaminants or materials, facilitating academic activities in Halal studies for students and communities and providing academic assistance (workshop, course or training) in the implementation of Halal assurance. Another research centre that actively involves in Halal research in Indonesia is Halal Products Research Centre, Gadjah Mada University. This centre is also working on the same areas as other halal centre such as analytical method development for analysis, instrumental and product development as well as social studies on halal system and management. Several trainings on analysis of halal products and halal auditing have been conducted as a part the centre’s activities.

Brunei

In 2007, Brunei Darussalam has launched a Standard for Halal Food (PBD24:2007) and the Brunei Darussalam Certification Guideline for Halal Certificate and Halal Label – Guideline for Halal Certification. The certification is issued by Ministry of Religious Affairs and supported by Ministry of Energy and Industry for promotion purpose. Currently, there are two different types of certificates for Halal; Halal certificate is issued to the companies and restaurant and Halal permit is issued to each product. For instance, a company should obtain Halal certificate for its premise and Halal permit if they wish to sell products.

The development of halal studies and research in Brunei has been initiated by founding the Halal Science and Metrology Centre. The laboratory was established by The Ministry of Energy and Industry in collaboration with Osaka University and Japan Food Research Lab. The service include DNA analysis  for pork DNA in raw materials and finished products by using PCR conventional tools, ELISA test kits and FTIR tools, and also Gas Chromatography to detect alcohol substances. Following the fast growing of global Halal industry, Brunei is setting up Brunei Darussalam Halal Science Centre to strengthen the credibility of this country in producing halal science products and innovations. In order to achieve the goal, Brunei is planning to collaborate with  Osaka University from Japan and Florida State University from United States with a Food Research Laboratory for analytical testing. The main objectives of this halal centre are to provide Halal analytical services for the detection of contamination in raw and finished products for Halal market, to carry out research and development on Halal analysis and production of Halal products,to establish an extensive Halal related database for reference and to provide scientific support services to the Ministry of Religious Affairs for certification of Halal products. Besides Halal centre, Brunei is also planning to build an academy specifically dedicated for the development of halal products which will consist of halal scientist and experts in halal industry and syariah. The academy will be built to strengthen the credibility in decision making especially on halal issues and matters.

Thailand

Thailand is emerging as an important halal food exporter to the OIC countries with exports valued at US$ 791 million in 2014 (ITC, 2015). Over the past decade, the Thai’s government has implemented a policy to increase processed-food exports to halal market. These efforts have certainly strengthen the capabilities of Thai SMEs in the global halal market and it was reported Thailand’s export of processed food to OIC countries increases by 230% over the past decade. Thailand also leads the list of processed-food exporters to the GCC region at 280% 10-year growth rate in 2014 (ITC, 2015). The ‘Kitchen of the World’ programme was introduced by Thailand as an effort to promote its national cuisine overseas and that certainly borne fruit when Thai food can be easily found all over the world. In addition, it creates global demand for its food and the ingredients used for preparation.

In order to further strengthen the Thai’s halal industry, different approaches have been developed with the objectives of fulfilling world standards, enhancing capability in halal certification and formulating standards, encouraging competitiveness of entrepreneurs, and upgrading research and development area. The Central Islamic Committee of Thailand (CICOT) was established on August 11, 2003 with an aim to legislate and administrate Islamic religious affairs in the Kingdom of Thailand and shall be responsible for regulating Halal related issues in Thailand. The roles of CICOT are to ensure the use of Thai Halal Product Standard (Standard Certification B.E 2544 and its second issue B.E 2545) is strictly following the Islamic principle and international standard, to approve the use of Halal logo and Halal product, to accredit Halal Certification Body, and to coordinate and supervise the division related to Halal Affair Operation. Halal certification is issued for the food and food products, slaughtered product, processed halal food and drinks, and imported Halal food products and meats.

The Halal Standard Institute of Thailand and the Halal Science Centre were established in 2003 as an effort and commitment of the government in introducing and promoting Thailand as recognized Halal centre of excellence in research and development. The Halal Science Center (HSC), Chulalongkorn University began as central laboratory and scientific information with the aim to support halal inspection and certification processes based on valid laboratory analysis. At present, HSC is fully funded by government and has been recognized as a renown Halal centre. HSC has established a huge national and international network and collaborations with other universities in the field of Halal study. Apart from HSC, other institute that actively involved in the Halal industry research is Institute of Food Research and Product Development (IFRPD), Kasetsart University. IFRPD involves in the Halal related projects which focusing on human resource and Halal Thai food process development.

4. CONCLUSION

The development of Halal studies and training programs is one of the key catalyst and strategic driver in achieving a better quality human capital for the Halal industry. The sustainability of the Halal business growth relies on the tandem growth of the human capital. Thus, systematic planning for Halal studies and trainings must be well designed in each countries to provide sufficient knowledge on the Halal concepts and management aspects. In addition, Halal research and development (R&D) is a crucial component in the Halal industry that enable the stockholders to effectively deliver higher quality, productivity, integrity and competitiveness in providing Halal products and services. 

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Table-1. Halal authorities or certification bodies in OIC countries

Source: JAKIM (2016)

Table-2. Common categories of halal requirements among halal authorities

Source: Latif et al. (2014)

Table-3. List of halal courses and trainings in Malaysia

Source: Ahmad (2014); Hanini et al. (2016); Ahmad et al. (2011)