Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards halal nutraceutical products among Muslim consumers / Sharifah Farahah Syed Isa

Of late, with the increasing number of health conscious groups, more and more people are opting for nutraceutical consumption for various reasons. However, the production of such products is still being dominated by non-Muslim countries in which the halal status of the products can be questioned. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge, attitudes as well as practices of Muslim consumers towards the nutraceutical consumptions. A self-constructed questionnaire was designed and distributed to the targeted respondents in the state of Kedah via convenience sampling. The psychometric properties of the instruments were assessed through reliability and exploratory factor analysis. Through the analysis conducted, the instrument used in the present study was found to be valid. Findings showed that more than 50% of the respondents have poor knowledge but desirable attitudes and practices in terms of the halalness and consumption of nutraceutical products. There were significant association between selected demographical variables (age, education and monthly income) and the attitudes of the respondents whilst spending amount did affect both attitudes and practices (p<0.05). However, no association was observed between demographic variables and the knowledge of the respondents. As such, there is a need to educate the public on the halal nutraceutical products so that they will be more knowledgeable on the ingredients and products that are available in the market.