1073 4 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (4 TH ICBER 2013) PROCEEDING 04 - 05 MARCH 2013. GOLDEN FLOWER HOTEL, BANDUNG, INDONESIA ISBN: 978-967-5705-10-6. WEBSITE: www.internationalconference.com.my A STUDY ON HALAL FOOD AWARENESS AMONG MUSLIM CUSTOMERS IN KLANG VALLEY Nor Ardyanti Binti Ahmad 1 , Tunku Nashril Bin Tunku Abaidah 2 & Mohd Helmi Bin Abu Yahya 3 Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies Universiti Teknologi MARA ardyanti@kedah.uitm.edu.my 1 tunkunashril@kedah.uitm.edu.my 2 mohdhelmi@kedah.uitm.edu.my 3 ABSTRACT Malaysia being recognised as Muslim country has used it to claim a place as a global halal hub. Muslims as the major customers of halal food being also the majority population of Malaysia have to show a higher understanding of halal compared to other ethnic groups. Even though Muslims are majority, there is still much food not serves according to the Muslim halal ruling and issues of abuse of halal logo and certification remain plentiful. Muslims who are the major customers who trusted the signage will patron the outlet. The study attempts to investigate halal food awareness among Muslim customers when choosing food outlet. Data were collected using questionnaire that was administered through face-to- face interviews using a convenience sampling technique. A total of 113 responses were received. The result of this study suggested that the level of awareness of halal food among Muslim customers were influenced by their understanding of halal concepts. Muslim customers likely to choose food outlet based on price and taste instead of halal logo and certification. Overall, Muslim customers were able to describe halal food and in general understood what constitute halal. There is a need for a strong commitment in increasing halal awareness and support by public, food producers and government agencies especially those directly responsible in halal food in Malaysia. Field of Research: Muslim customer, Halal hub, Food consumption ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction Halal food demand has increased tremendously in parallel with the expansion of 2.1 billion Muslim populations around the world. According to Mariam (2010) size of halal market throughout the world is about USD 2.1 trillion and in 2011 it is estimated that the size of halal food sector is USD 661 billion (World Halal Forum, 2011). Halal market is growing fast and has been increasing at an estimated 25% per year (Dewan ekonomi, 2011). Halal food is becoming a lucrative business not only among Muslim but also non-Muslim countries. Muslims have always been associated with Islam and Islam is directly link to Halalan and Toyyiban (good quality). For Muslims, it is their religious obligation to consume halal food. The question of understanding among Muslims about halal food is posed because food market in Malaysia is managed by all ethnic groups. In Malaysia, the application of halal certification and logo is based upon request by