Knowledge and Attitude on Halal Food and Islamic Eating Practices among Students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Abstract

The preservation of future generation and the protection of consumer welfare is a priority in view of the incremental negative behaviours existing in today’s societies at large. The study involved 414 respondents through convenience sampling by using questionnaires. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 25. This study highlighted that family is the main reference for source of information on halal food products followed with the internet and lecturer. All faculties at UMS has high level of knowledge about the concept of Halal and Haram in halal food, followed with Islamic law on halal food and beverages. This is maybe due to courses on halal and haram foods being offered at various faculties in UMS. Although the majority of respondents has high level of knowledge on halal food but the practices of respondents consuming the sunnah food is low. This happens because the fruits such as dates, pomegranates and figs are quite expensive and not easily accessible in the city of Kota Kinabalu. The study found that the Muslim respondents have positive attitude towards halal food and eating practices whereby they will always choose halal and tayyib food whenever they want to eat and they will eat in a congregation (with friends or family) when they want to eat. The respondents have satisfactory level on Islamic eating practices such as washing hands before and after eating, saying “Bismillah” before eating and sharing food with friends, but not because it is encouraged by Islam, but because it has become a custom or a part of their daily eating practices. This happens because the Malaysian public is not familiar with eating food from Arab countries where it was a way of life for the Prophet s.a.w. Results also showed that knowledge on Halal food was significantly correlated with attitude (r=0.217; p<0.05) and practices (r=0.085; p<0.05) of the UMS students showing positive linear correlations which confirms that better knowledge can lead to positive attitude and subsequently in good practices.