Halal; Organic; and Preservative: Marketing Concept for Bread

Proceedings of Annual Paris Business and Social Science Research Conference

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Republique, Paris, France, 4 - 5 July 2013, ISBN: 978-1-922069-27-6

Halal; Organic; and Preservative: Marketing Concept for Bread Industry

Jamal Abdul Nassir Shaari*, Haslan Ottot and Muhammad Farhan Kermin

In the wake of global consumer awareness towards living and consuming in healthy ways, this paper examined consumer behavior towards purchasing two choices of bread, organic bread versus bread with preservatives. Data was gathered from questionnaire surveys on 260 respondents from Kuching town, the capital of Sarawak, which is also the largest state in Malaysia. In depth descriptive analyses were made with the findings indicated that in general, organic bread would be of preferred choice with the factors in the order of their importance, taste; freshness; durability; halal; health; texture; place; and price as the determinants for the preference. However, place plays vital role to sway consumer into buying preservative bread when the consumer finds the access to purchase organic bread is of difficulties. Halal on the other hand is the ultimate factor to govern Muslim consumers’ decision between these two alternatives. This research provides evidence on the importance of investigating consumer behavior in understanding factors influencing their choice in choosing bread, which will be a good marketing and also business strategy particularly in organic based businesses.

Key words: Halal, Organic, Marketing

1.0 Introduction Having a good health is part of the choice that the generation today has to choose as cases of lifestyle related diseases have keep on escalating from the past decades. These include among others, diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart diseases. Even though compared to the past particularly from the post second war era, the advancement of today‘s medical technology has successfully curb the mortality of the communicable diseases via immunization programs, as well as early detection and prevention medicinal tolls or kits made available, they are obviously not enough. High mortality rate due to coronary heart diseases as reported by T Coyne, R Hughes, S Langi (2000) and E Erdmann (2006) is actually associated with the spread of lifestyle diseases. In fact, today‘s eating habit is one of the most important subsets in one‘s lifestyle. As the movement or the trend of ‗going organic‘ is gaining much popularity these days, the question is what really lies behind this movement. Is it purely comes from consumer awareness towards living and consuming in healthy ways or is it just another trend stemming from today‘s modern lifestyle. Perhaps the former is true as S. Lockie, K Lyons, and G Lawrence (2002) suggest that although price might be a major concerned

*Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia, Tel: 60-82-581000 ext. 4394; Fax: 60-82-583999, Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



in most developing countries; as part of investment and lifestyle choice, it still would not become an obstacle as it was slightly below the priority of quality, moral, and health concerned. Today‘s complex interrelated world and lifestyle come with no surprise that other marketing related concepts have also been cited to be of influence for consumer purchase decision making. Labeling food as certified halal, kosher, or organic represents an incremental value that consumer desire. This is in evidence with W. Leiss (2003) suggestion that it is actual consumer behavior that tells from their willingness to pay for these additional values. This paper examines reality behind consumer choices in choosing and buying bread. The authors believe that buying organic is best measured through consumer decision in choosing organic bread or conventional bread with preservatives, as this is of common organic-lifestyle for Malaysian. Following this introduction, the paper discusses on related literature, methodology, findings and discussion of the study, and it wraps up with the implication and conclusion of the study.

2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Organic and Preservatives Various issues regarding organic food have been raised in tandem with the rise of popularity on studies comparing the quality of organic and non-organic food which could be traced to as early as 1920s. Matters concerned in those studies were the quality of foods and the contained of nutrients which the conventional food have shown to have lower in the level of water soluble nutrition as well as free from harmful pesticides and growth hormones used in some conventional breed or growth food products (Williams, 2002 and Woese et al, 1997). However, as time passes, the awareness towards consumption of organic food among worldwide population is no longer only motivated by health factors, but also ethical and moral concerned towards the environment; according to Herper and Makatouni (2002); Morris (1996); Grunert and Juhl (1995); and Grunert (1993) published papers. 2.2 Halal and Organic

Halal and organic are associated with both concepts‘ concerned on the production chain especially in the matter of producing the food from the early stages. Following the Syariah Law, Halalan Toyyiban concept focuses on the overall production chain of which the food produced should be free from any harmful products and ingredients, and only used permissible ingredients (free from forbidden and wrongful sources) abiding the Syariah Law. Organic food on the other hand concerns with the nature of producing the food which should be free from any added substances including growth hormones, pesticides, any form of nutritional or flavors additives, including even packaging.



Halal and health studies have been widely studied in country with majority Muslim population, though the acceptance for other parts of the world is still at some debating stage. Food crime has being cited to become of concerns among the global society, creating awareness on the necessity to have foods that are authorized or certified as Halal, Kosher, and even Organic, to ensure safe for consumption (Pointing and and Teinaz, 2004).

Though Kosher has long being linked to Jewish community; Halal food, for the

benefits it offers has gained momentum and popularity not only to the Muslim but for the non Muslim too. These classifications not only represents consumer association with the value of health, religions, or lifestyle particularly among Jews, Muslim and organic food consumers but also the business potential it provides. The markets for these particular foods have massive power that could generate billions of money income.

3.0 Methodology A set of self-administrated questionnaire in English was developed comprising two sections. The first section gathered respondents‘ demographic data, while the second on items respective to measure bread value in consumers‘ purchasing decision, be it organic or conventional bread with preservatives. These identified value, Halal; Health; Durability; Price; Place; Taste; and Texture as being defined in Table 1 are measured with a five-point Likert scale questions with the options ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Table 1: Values in Buying Bread

Halal: Availability of Halal certificate, sign, or symbol to indicate that the bread is halal.

Health: Purchasing the particular bread for health reasons.

Durability: Lifetime of the bread before it becomes bad for consumption

Price: Fair value as being assumed for consumer for the trade of the bread

Place: The ease of access or the difficulties in getting the bread from shops

Taste: Consumer likings or preferences towards the taste of the bread

Texture: The quality of the bread from what it made of and how it feels from one‘s touch

The objective of this paper as measured from the perspective of Malaysian consumer, specifically those who lives in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak which is the largest state in Malaysia, could be brought down into three: Objective 1: To explore factors deemed by the respondents to be of important value for

them in purchasing bread, and to rank their level of importance. Objective 2: Exploring the role of Halal in bread purchasing. Objective 3: Exploring factor that could sway consumer decision making in buying

bread.



4.0 Findings As being depicted in Table 2, 260 usable questionnaires were collected from 41.5 percent of 108 male respondents and 58.5 percent of152 female respondents with majority comes from the range of age 19-25 at 59.6 percent followed by second highest category of age , 26-35 at 26.9 percent, and third highest from the sample of age 36-45 at 11.9 percent. Majority of the respondents are diploma and bachelor degree holders (44 and 166 or 16.9 percent and 63.8 percent respectively), where mostly are students (157students, 60.4 percent) which explain that most of them earn below RM 1000 (54.2 percent). These demographics category is intentional with two purposes; studying current generation Y behavior in buying organic as part of today‘s generation trend, and to evaluate whether price has become a blocking block to buying organic as being investigated by S. Lockie, K Lyons, and G Lawrence (2002). 132 respondents are Malay and by Malaysian constitution, Malay is those whose religion is Islam. Hence, approximately 50percent of the respondents are Muslim; while the other half of 49.2 percent non Malays are 58 Chinese, 30 Iban, 9 Bidayuh, and 30 of other races give about equal distribution of Muslim and non-Muslim. This, indeed portrays Malaysian multicultural ethnicity, that is important factor in evaluating the concept of Halal for Muslim and non Muslim.



Table 2: Respondent Profile Variables Frequency %

Gender Male 108 41.5

Female 152 58.5

Age

Below 18 2 0.8

19-25 155 59.6

26-35 70 26.9

36-45 31 11.9

46-55 2 0.8

Education level

Secondary school 28 10.8

Diploma 44 16.9

Bachelor Degree 166 63.8

Master/PhD 22 8.5

Income level

Below RM1,000 141 54.2

RM1,001 – RM3,000 64 24.6

RM3,001 – RM7,000 45 17.3

RM7,001 – RM10,000 6 2.3

RM10,000 and above 4 1.5

Occupation

Student 157 60.4

Self-employed 23 8.8

Private worker 8 3.1

Government servant 68 26.2

Pensioner 4 1.5

Race

Malay 132 50.8

Chinese 58 22.3

Iban 30 11.5

Bidayuh 9 3.5

Others 31 11.9

Marital Status

Single 199 76.5

Married 53 20.4

Divorcee 8 3.1

Table 3 summarizes the finding on factors that of concern to consumer in buying bread. The authors rank the importance of these factors using descriptive analysis by looking at the mean of each statement asking respondent to rank their agreement to the factors they found important for them in buying bread. In order of the importance, taste ranked first with mean of 4.4577; followed by freshness of the bread (4.3962); durability (4.2385); halal logo (4.1962); healthy ingredients (4.1577); texture (4.1154); price (3.8769), and location as the least important with mean of 3.6231. What this tells us is that respondents in general views taste; freshness/durability; and halal as more important than price and location, which supports earlier discussion that price is not an obstacle for consumer to purchase their desired bread.



Table 3: Value - Rank of Importance in Buying Bread

VALUE - RANK OF IMPORTANCE IN BUYING BREAD

Rank Min Max Mean Std. Dev

Halal logo is important to me

4 1.00 5.00 4.1962 1.10980

Healthy ingredient is an important factor for me in choosing bread

5 1.00 5.00 4.1577 .97564

Bread durability is an important purchasing factor to me

3 3.00 5.00 4.2385 .78896

Freshness of bread is an important purchasing factor to me

2 2.00 5.00 4.3962 .81063

Price is an important factor in purchasing bread

7 1.00 5.00 3.8769 1.02491

Location is an important factor for me in buying bread

8 1.00 5.00 3.6231 1.10293

Taste is an important factor for me in buying bread

1 3.00 5.00 4.4577 .69896

Texture is an important factor for me in buying bread

6 2.00 5.00 4.1154 .83026

Table 4 similar to Table 3 summarizes the statements asking respondent to state their opinion if what they view as important factor in choosing bread is absent with their choice to consume organic bread. The authors also ranked respondents agreement based on the 5 likert scale to measure their willingness to sacrifice the previous mentioned values in order fulfill their desire of consuming organic bread. Table 4 meant to achieve two targets; that is not only meant to measure the respondents ‗full commitment‘ in choosing organic, but second, to also indirectly weigh the understanding of consumer on ‗organic concept‘. In achieving the second target, the authors compare the findings in these previous two tables, by summarizing them in Table 5. This is also meant to compare consumers‘ concern in consuming organic bread to what they have previously rated as their desire in buying bread.



Table 4: Preference for Organic Bread

PREFERENCE FOR ORGANIC BREAD

Rank Min Max Mean Std. Dev

I do not mind buying organic bread even if there is no Halal sign

2 3.00 6.00 4.3615 .70304

I believe that consuming organic bread is healthier than bread with preservative.

6 2.00 6.00 4.2962 .77658

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is not fresher than preservative bread.

2 3.00 6.00 4.3615 .70304

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is more expensive than preservative bread

7 1.00 5.00 3.6654 .88289

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is more difficult to find than preservative bread

5 1.00 6.00 4.3154 .78139

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it does not taste better than preservative bread

1 3.00 6.00 4.4077 .67722

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it has better texture than preservative bread

4 1.00 6.00 4.3269 .73314

Looking at Table 5, interestingly the three highest ranks for both importance in buying bread and preference for organic bread are of the same items- Taste, Freshness and Durability; and Halal sign/logo. Interesting as it could be ironic at first glance that, ―Taste is an important factor for me in buying bread” match ―I do not mind buying organic bread even if it does not taste better than preservative bread” at number one, with highest mean to the agreement of both statements; followed by “Freshness of bread is an important purchasing factor to me”/ “Bread durability is an important purchasing factor to me” match “I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is not fresher than preservative bread‖; while “Halal logo is important to me” match “I do not mind buying organic bread even if there is no Halal sign”



Table 5: Importance in Bread vs. Preference for Organic

Mean Rank of Importance in Buying Bread

Rank Preference for Organic Bread

Mean

4.4577 Taste is an important factor for me in buying bread

1

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it does not taste better than preservative bread

4.4077

4.3962 Freshness of bread is an important purchasing factor to me 2

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is not fresher than preservative bread.

4.3615

4.2385 Bread durability is an important purchasing factor to me

4.1962 Halal logo is important to me

3 I do not mind buying organic bread even if there is no Halal sign

4.3615

4.1577 Healthy ingredient is an important factor for me in choosing bread

4

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it does not has better texture than preservative bread

4.3269

4.1154 Texture is an important factor for me in buying bread

5

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is more difficult to find than preservative bread

4.3154

3.8769 Price is an important factor in purchasing bread

6

I believe that consuming organic bread is healthier than bread with preservative.

4.2962

3.6231 Location is an important factor for me in buying bread

7

I do not mind buying organic bread even if it is more expensive than preservative bread

3.6654

These observations could possibly be explained that the real idea is that organic bread at its worst is actually still preferred to the conventional bread with preservatives. In other words, taste; freshness; and halal are what one desire most in buying bread, while organic is the best there are as organic by nature is almost synonymous to these needs. In other words, although taste is a matter of preference, freshness of organic means ―pure newness” rather than durability of bread with preservative that obviously could be the result of the preservative usage itself. Halal on the other matter lies on the same line of value chain as organic, where organic could be of subset to Halal concept.



Table 6: Organic Bread vs. Preservative Bread

Mean Std. Dev

PRESERVATIVE ORGANIC Mean Std. Dev

3.712 1.107

I will buy preservative bread if it has Halal sign

I will buy organic bread if it has Halal sign

3.969 1.058

3.796 .892

I am worried of some possible side effect from eating bread with preservative

I have no worries about side effect when consuming organic bread

3.042 1.250

3.169 1.084

I buy bread with preservative because it is more durable than organic

I buy organic bread because it is fresher than preservative bread

4.273 .775

3.269 1.023

I buy preservative bread because it is cheaper than organic bread

I will not buy preservative bread if it is more expensive than organic bread

3.812 .970

3.923 .931 I will buy bread at the most convenience place

I buy organic bread because it is more expensive than preservative bread.

4.258 .745

3.462 .988

I will buy preservative bread because it is easier to find

I will buy organic bread even if it is difficult to find

3.246 1.073

3.289 1.079

I will buy preservative bread because it tastes better than organic

I will buy organic bread because it tastes better than preservative

3.827 .836

3.381 1.103

I will buy preservative bread if it has better texture than organic

I will buy organic because it has better texture than preservative

3.677 .844

Table 6 puts preference for organic bread side by side to preservative bread, meant for direct comparison of consumers‘ preference between the two. Descriptive analyses could be simple yet powerful to explain a situation. Indeed from the Table 6 above, it is clear indication of customers‘ preference leaning towards preservative bread. Comparing Halal sign as the factor, the mean for buying organic bread is 3.969 higher than buying preservative bread at 3.712. Buying organic bread due to the freshness accumulate higher mean of 4.273 compared to the durability of preservative bread at 3.169. Price is not an important factor in choosing bread as suggested earlier; however customers rather not purchase preservative bread if it is more expensive than organic, a mean of 3.812 relative to mean of only 3.269 to their agreement when were asked that they buy bread with preservative due its cheaper price. Interesting to highlight is the



high mean of 4.258 in agreement that consumer purchase organic bread because of its higher price, suggesting that organic bread could be viewed as high-class lifestyle or of higher class status in respondents society. Another interesting observation is that even though location was cited as the least important in buying bread, table 6 reveals another observation that consumer rather buy bread to the most convenience place, mean of 3.923. It is also evidence that they score higher showing their agreement to buy preservative bread if it is easier to find (mean= 3.462) rather than facing difficulties looking for organic bread (mean= 3.246). Taste, though a matter of preference, in fact the most important factor in buying bread; Table 6 suggests that respondents prefer tastier Organic bread (mean= 3.827) rather than tastier bread with preservative (mean= 3.289). The same applies with texture as consumer as consumer prefer better texture of organic bread (mean= 3.677) to conventional preservative breads (mean= 3.381). These observations, derive from Table 6 concludes consumer preference more towards Organic bread rather than preservative bread!

5.0 Discussion

The main findings of this study suggest that consumer today does value healthy lifestyle with their preference towards organic bread compared to conventional bread with preservative; suggesting that the first objective set for this paper was met. Concept of Halal as the second objective was also met with the paper highlighting the importance of it for both buying bread as in general and also in buying organic bread. Marketing concept of place or access is still relevance with the indication that consumer could sway to purchase conventional preservative bread if they found organic bread is difficult to get, meeting the third objective.

6.0 Conclusion, Limitation and Direction Conclusively, this study contributes to knowledge on today‘s consumers‘ lifestyle, preferring the healthy way through eating organic. Having students as majority of respondents could be viewed as limitation, but on the other hand, it offers the true reflection of today‘s better educated generation Y that will be the main consumer from now on. Direction for future research is to focus on Halal issues, and the first step could be to differentiate between Muslim and non Muslim buying behavior; though this paper ignores it for several reasons. Given the combination of both, the result still shows positive agreement on halal issues suggesting current wisdom that Halal is for everybody. The fact that the study was done in Kuching, Sarawak, one of the most multiethnic city in Malaysia supports it further. In fact Halal could very much be associated with organic and healthy lifestyle.



Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Toyota Foundation for providing the fund to do the research and to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) for the use of the research resources such as library, computer lab, and for administrative support, and for funding the presentation and publication of this paper.

References Aerni, P., Scholderer, J., & Ermen, D. (2011). How would Swiss consumers decide if

they had freedom of choice? Evidence from a field study with organic, conventional and GM corn bread. Food Policy, 36(6), 830-838.

Erdmann, E. (2006). Worldwide spread of lifestyle diseases and its importance for cardiovascular events. Drugs of Today, 42, 5-8.

Grunert (1993). Green Consumerism in Denmarak.OKO food Project. Der Markt Vol 32. (3) pp 140-51

Grunert and Juhl (1995). Values, environmental attitudes, and buying of organic food. Journal of Economics Psychology.

Harper, G. C., & Makatouni, A. (2002). Consumer perception of organic food production and farm animal welfare. British Food Journal, 104(3/4/5), 287-299.

Heiniö, R. L., Liukkonen, K. H., Katina, K., Myllymäki, O., & Poutanen, K. (2003). Milling fractionation of rye produces different sensory profiles of both flour and bread. LWT-Food Science and Technology, 36(6), 577-583.

Hertrampf, E., Cortés, F., Erickson, J. D., Cayazzo, M., Freire, W., Bailey, L. B., & Pfeiffer, C. (2003). Consumption of folic acid–fortified bread improves folate status in women of reproductive age in Chile. The Journal of nutrition,133(10), 3166-3169.

Hu, W., Veeman, M. M., & Adamowicz, W. L. (2005). Labelling genetically modified food: Heterogeneous consumer preferences and the value of information. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, 53(1), 83-102.

Leiss, W. (2003, November). The Case for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically-Modified Foods. In presented at the Consumers' Association of Canada 2003 Annual General Meeting.

Lockie, S., Lyons, K., Lawrence, G., & Grice, J. (2004). Choosing organics: a path analysis of factors underlying the selection of organic food among Australian consumers. Appetite, 43(2), 135-146.

Lund, C. M., Jaeger, S. R., Amos, R. L., Brookfield, P., & Harker, F. R. (2006). Tradeoffs between emotional and sensory perceptions of freshness influence the price consumers will pay for apples: Results from an experimental market.Postharvest Biology and Technology, 41(2), 172-180.

Martínez-Anaya, M. A. (1996). Enzymes and bread flavor. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 44(9), 2469-2480.



Morris (1996). The Ethical Consumers. The new force in food sectors. Market Intelligent Section, April.

Piazza, L., & Masi, P. (1995). Moisture redistribution throughout the bread loaf during staling and its effect on mechanical properties. Cereal Chemistry, 72(3), 320-325.

Pointing, J., & Teinaz, Y. (2004). Halal meat and food crime in the UK. Read, D., Loewenstein, G., Rabin, M., Keren, G., & Laibson, D. (2000). Choice

bracketing. In Elicitation of Preferences (pp. 171-202). Springer Netherlands. Robert, N. (1997). Structuring genotype× environment interaction for quality traits in

bread wheat, in two multi-location series of trials. Euphytica, 97(1), 53-66.

Sanchez, H. D., Osella, C. A., & Torre, M. D. L. (2002). Optimization of Gluten‐Free Bread Prepared from Cornstarch, Rice Flour, and Cassava Starch. Journal of Food Science, 67(1), 416-419.

T Coyne, R Hughes, S Langi (2000). Lifestyle disease in Pacific Communities. secreteriats of Pacific Communities, Multipress, Nouema.

Trautwein, E. A., Carls, C. R., Erbersdobler, H. F., & Hisserich, D. (2000). Development of types of psyllium-enriched bread as part of a cholesterol lowering diet. Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau, 96(2), 58-64.

Wirtz, R. L., & Cauvain, S. P. (2003). Improving the taste of bread. Bread making: improving quality, 467-486.

Woese, K., Lange, D., Boess, C., & Bögl, K. W. (1997). A comparison of organically and conventionally grown foods—results of a review of the relevant literature. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 74(3), 281-293.

World Health Organization (2012). Annual report 2011. United Nation Press, Switzerland.

Documents

Halal; Organic; and Preservative: Marketing Concept for Bread