Paper #3

Investigation of Halal Certification and Country of Origin of FMCG Products

Anum Memon, Muhammad Aslam Memon, Adnan Pitafi and Pireh Panhwar

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate various products of key distributors in Hyderabad market accordance with halal Certification and country of origin. The FMCG products are surveyed. As the demand of these products are increasing day by day. With the rapid increase of FMCG sector, Pakistan Being an Islamic country Muslims are at ease as they believe that whatever the product that is available in market is halal. Not give a second thought of country of origin. The research is performed on a survey based study to investigate the FMCG products. In that product are categorized into two categories that are food and non-food products. The survey is conducted in Hyderabad of different super markets that include Dawood super mart, Max bachat, The Grocers, Baig mart, Hamid super store and many other. In this research Food Products that are surveyed includes beverages, Dairy Products, baked Products and snacks. And Non-food products that are surveyed include Cosmetics, Toiletries, Cleaning Product and Fragrance products. Present study found that there is very less products in market are halal certified. It is an alarming time for Pakistan as it is an Islamic country there is no halal certification body that can certify the products. In food category 62 products of Beverages were surveyed out of which only 24% are halal certified, 37 dairy Products were surveyed out of which only 24.3% are halal certified ,30 snack food were surveyed out of which only 30% are halal certified and 84 baked products were surveyed out of which only 50% are halal certified. In Non-food category 69 Toiletries Products were surveyed out of which only 13% are halal certified, 26 Cleaning products out of which 0% are halal certified, 62 Cosmetic products out of which 0% are halal certified, 63 Fragrance products out of which 0% are halal certified. The total number of food products were surveyed was 213. Out of them only 35.2% were halal Certified. The total number of Non-food Products were surveyed was 220 Products. Out of them only 4.09% were halal certified. Pakistan has no regulatory body who can checked the products that are available in market, are Halal certified or not. This research is one of the few studies in context of Pakistan which is investigating the FMCG products accordance with halal certification and country of Origin. The study also provided new findings of Pakistani Market that there are very less products which are halal certified. The result of the study is quite different with other halal studies.

Keywords: Halal awareness; Halal certification; Halal products; FMCG products; Halal business.