Halal Pastry and Bakery in Brunei Darussalam: Credible and Reliable Halal Ingredients

Abstract

The global bakery and pastry products have bloomed for the past years and it is expected to grow further. According to Agriculture and Agrifood Statistics 2020, Bakery and Pastry industry is accounted for 13.3% of the market size in Brunei Darussalam, ranking third after the fast food industry and meat products. This is evidently showing the demand for bakery and pastry products continue to grow locally. Subsequently, in identifying Halal status of these products are difficult as most of the ingredients are processed. Due to the high dependency on imported products, the probability of Muslim consumers in Brunei to be exposed to doubtful ingredients is high as not all imported goods are certified Halal. Some of the ingredients such as improver, emulsifier, gelatin are coming from ambiguous origin. Some products claimed to be vegan, however it may contain alcohol-based carriers which renders it not permissible to be consumed. Correspondingly, this study intends to examine the approach used by bakers and chefs in searching for Halal ingredients. By using purposive sampling method, questionnaire was carried out to investigate the level of awareness of bakers and chefs in Brunei Darussalam on ambiguous ingredients in bakery and pastry products. Also, to determine their understanding of criteria and differences of credible and reliable Halal ingredients based on PBD 24:2007. The results demonstrated there is high level of awareness on the issue of ambiguous ingredients. Another result showed respondents acquired high level of understanding on the criteria of both credible Halal ingredients and reliable Halal ingredients. The findings also revealed that Halal logo and certification as well as the ingredients of the products played an important role in purchasing decision of Halal ingredients. Through this research, it is hoped to benefit bakers and chefs by providing them a guideline and understanding on credible and reliable Halal ingredients to maintain Muslim consumers’ trust.