“HALAL, MADE IN TAIWAN” - TAIWANESE PRODUCTS WITH HALAL LOGO IN MALAYSIA (PART 1)

Authors:

Khairul Akmaliah Adham, USIM

Mohd Fuaad Said, UPM

Nur Sa’adah Muhamad, UKM

Location: Jaya Grocer at Mesa Mall, Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, MALAYSIA

Observation Areas: All Isles, specifically focusing on Snacks and Food Essentials Shelves

Date and Time: 24^th November 2019, 6.30 pm

This observation was conducted as a part of our study on understanding the halal industry ecosystem of Taiwan. Specifically, the study examines the extended value chain of Taiwan halal ecosystem, namely its products’ export. We selected the Malaysian market, one of Taiwan’s export market with a large population of Muslim consumers. The observation method was adopted by physically visiting selected supermarkets and convenient stores to check the availability of Taiwan products, with halal logo, on the shelf.

This article reports the findings of the observation conducted at Jaya Grocer, one of Malaysia’s popular upscale supermarket located in Mesa Mall in Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. The observation was conducted by first going through all the isles and second, by checking on snacks and food essentials shelves, as the Taiwanese products are generally available in these sections. The snacks section, as shown in Picture 1, is closest to the cashiers’ area of the supermarket.

Once the checking was completed at the snacks section, observation was conducted at the canned foods section as shown in Picture 2. As the observers were not familiar with Taiwanese products, each non-local product, particularly those with Chinese characters on the packaging, was checked one by one to determine the product’s country of origin. After identifying the “Made in Taiwan” products on the shelf, the observers later inspected the packaging to find the halal logo. Once the halal logo was spotted, the observers then identified the authority that owned the logo. 

Picture 1: View of Snacks Shelf in Jaya Grocer 

Note: These eight-tier shelves that display the snack products are located on the last isle that is closest to the cashiers’ area. The blue-dashed frame indicates the location of the Made in Taiwan snacks on the international shelf in Jaya Grocer Nilai.

Picture 2: View of Canned Foods Shelf in Jaya Grocer

Note: The three blue-dashed frames indicate the location of the Made in Taiwan bottled and canned foods shelf, with halal logo, in Jaya Grocer Nilai.

Overall observation:

Jaya Grocer offers customers with varieties of imported products from all over the world, such as products of Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, China, Australia, Turkey and many more, on top of Malaysian products. For this supermarket, there is no dedicated halal shelf. Products with halal logo are located together with others that do not carry a halal logo. Furthermore, the products are not organized by the country of origins, instead, according to their categories, such as, fresh produce (which include vegetables, meat, and poultry), food essentials (which include canned food, condiments and dressings, rice, and grains), snacks (which include biscuits, chips and crisps, nuts and dried snacks), frozen foods, organics, beauty and health, household products and others. Customers, especially Muslim consumers that specifically looking for halal products may need to look for the halal logo stamped on the product itself. 

Specific findings:

1) There is no dedicated halal shelf in the supermarket. Products with halal logo are not separated with products without halal logo.

2) Made in Taiwan products are displayed together with other products on the shelf, which are not labeled based on the country of origin. For the snacks shelf, this shelf offered snacks like biscuits/crackers, dried nuts, candies, drinks products, honey, milk, yogurt drink, jelly, and instant noodles. Picture 3, 4, 5, 6 shows three Made in Taiwan products, with halal logo, at the snacks section. While, at the bottled and canned food section, Taiwan products, with halal logo, such as pickled vegetables, vegetarian mock duck and soya bean curd were displayed (Refer Picture 2 and 7). 

Picture 3: Close-up view of the Made in Taiwan snacks, with halal logo

Note: Only three Made in Taiwan products are available on the shelf, namely rice crackers, energy sticks, and plum jelly. Each snack displays a halal logo stamped on their packaging.

Picture 4: Rice Crackers with halal logo from The Chinese Muslim Association 

Picture 5: Energy Sticks with halal logo from Taiwan Halal Chinese Muslim Association

Picture 6: Yuki & Love’s Plum Jelly, with halal logo of Taipei Grand Mosque Foundation

Picture 7: Made in Taiwan products, with halal logo, at Canned Food Section

Note: Product A and B carry the halal logo of THIDA, while Product C displays a non-generic halal logo, but the observers are not able to identify the name of the authority, as this information is missing from the logo and the packaging. 

3) On the whole, Taiwan’s products are limited in number compared to products made in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Products made in Japan and South Korea have the widest range. In fact, Japanese and South Korean products take up most of the spaces on the product shelves, making the shelves seem like dedicated shelves for these countries.

4) In term of visibility, most Taiwan products, with halal logo, are placed at the lower part of the shelves/under eye view, specifically at the three lowest bottom of the seven by eight-tier shelves. 

5) Halal logo on Made in Taiwan products: Every snack produced in Taiwan that are displayed in the snacks section carry a halal logo from either one of three different halal bodies from Taiwan. As for halal canned products, two logos are visible, the halal logo of THIDA and another unidentified authority. The three identified halal certification bodies are The Chinese Muslim Association (CMA), Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association (THIDA), and Taipei Grand Mosque Foundation (TGM). See Picture 5. Out of these three organizations, only THIDA is included in the latest JAKIM list of certified body in Taiwan (JAKIM, 2019).

Picture 8: Four halal logo identified on “Made in Taiwan” Products

Note: 1) THIDA; 2) TGM; 3) CMA; and 4) An unidentified authority.

6) The halal logo on each of the Made in Taiwan product is stamped at the back of the packaging, and hence not easily visible to the eyes of customers. Furthermore, the halal logo is small in size, in comparison to halal logos of other international authorities, such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

7) On the whole, on this supermarket’s snacks shelf, the products with halal logo are mixed with the products without halal logo.

8) On the snacks shelf, generally, the number and range of products of South Korea are the most extensive, followed by Japan, and Thailand.

9) In term of imported products with halal logo, Thailand products have the most numbers and range, followed by those of South Korea and Japan.  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors acknowledge the financial support of Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (CCKF Taiwan) Research Grant, under project number RG009-P-18, and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) for the administration of the research grant, under the university research code USIM/INT_CCKF/FEM/053000/41919.

REFERENCES

JAKIM. (2019). The Recognised Foreign Halal Certification Bodies & Authorities. Retrieved from http://www.halal.gov.my/v4/.

Disclaimer: Our observations and analyses of products with halal logo that are available in this supermarket are not meant to be exhaustive and should not be taken as evidence of adequacy or inadequacy of the supplies.