A research for determination of standard use levels in food manufacturing enterprises in organized industrial zones

This research is prepared to clear up the problem "what are the standards usage levels in food companies". Appertaining to this problem, it is hypothesized that in food companies, the standards usage levels are low. The aim of this research is pointing out that food companies implement the standards usage levels. This research is vitally important because it is the first research to investigate whether the food companies take notice of the necessary standards in terms of "halal" and also enlightens the food companies, consumers and stakeholders about term "halal" that has become important lately and recommends how this problem can be solved, which makes the research prominent because this project has not been tackled before. In this research, for the first time in the literature, standards are classified and examined in three main categories; first standards which should be formed by religious beliefs, second mandatory standards and third non-mandatory standards. The results obtained from this research show that the standards, either coming from religious beliefs or obligatory/optional in food companies, usage levels are low. Since appearing findings in this research support the hypothesis, it is evaluated that basic hypothesis is acceptable. KEY WORDS: Food, Standardization, Halal, Kosher, Turkish Food Codex.