AN OVERVIEW OF BUDU PRODUCTION IN KELANTAN FROM HALAL AND POLICY ASPECTS

Abstract

Budu or fish sauce is a traditional food of the East Coast communities in Peninsular Malaysia that is produced through a fermentation process between 6 to 12 months in the covered containers known as unprocessed budu. Meanwhile, the processed budu is prepared by grounding coarsely unprocessed budu before mixing with tamarind paste, palm sugar, sugar, monosodium glutamate (MSG), food colouring, and then boiled. Once the mixture is filtered, processed budu is cooled, bottled and marketed all over Malaysia. Most of the manufacturers (23) are located in Kelantan and Terengganu. However, based on the recent data, only one brand of budu is halal-certified as compared to other Malaysian fermented fish products, i.e., belacan (243), pekasam (14), and cencaluk (13). The study offers some important insights into the issues that arise in budu production from the halal and policy aspects that may hinder the manufacturers from applying halal certification. The use of qualitative studies is a well-established approach in this study. Five broad themes emerged from the analysis, the low quality of raw materials (anchovies) and lack of awareness and knowledge base in food safety and hygiene practices among the manufacturers and workers are identified as the main factors contributing to scare-mongering against halal certification. In addition, we found shortage of raw materials (anchovies), lack of incentive and specification standards for the quality of budu were the bottleneck of halal application among the budu entrepreneur. Therefore, more outstanding efforts are needed to ensure the involvement and cooperation from the government agencies and regulators and budu manufacturers to help them penetrate the international market. Indeed, a desire is needed to boost the exportation of budu globally following the market demand and opportunities.