A research on determination of attitudes of consumers to halal certified products

As in all sectors, new products and services are offered to the market every day in accordance with the changes in the wishes of consumers in the food industry. A certain segment of consumers wants the products they will consume to be in accordance with their religious beliefs. Jews who identify products that meet the belief that "kosher product" s are on the market for a very long time in many countries, including Turkey, particularly in the United States. Food and products that are suitable for Islamic religion are called "halal". The number of people with a belief in Islam in the world is quite high and the rapid increase in the Muslim population, the population spreading around the world, etc. The reasons caused the halal product market to grow very rapidly. But for members of both religions, the question of whether these products really fit their religious beliefs is the most critical issue. While the only authorized institution for the certification of Kosher products is rabbinate, there is a complexity in the certification of halal products. This approval is given by different institutions in different countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a significant relationship between consumers' demographic characteristics, religious beliefs, and their perceptions and preferences for halal-certified products. The "Restructured Muslim Religious Orientation Scale" developed by Ercan (2009) and "Halal Product Satisfaction" scales developed by Yener (2013) were used to collect the research data. Reliability, correlation and regression analyzes were applied to the data obtained from the survey conducted with 499 participants in Buca, Izmir. Keywords: Halal Certificate, Halal Food, Food Industry, Customer Satisfaction.