Building a halal food traceability model for Kuwaiti halal ecosystem from stakeholders’ perspectives

Traceability systems are crucial in halal and agri-food industries due to their tracking and tracing capabilities for halal food integrity. It is difficult to create a traceability system for the halal food supply chain because of differing requirements and complex stakeholders’ needs. Gaining a thorough grasp of stakeholders’ viewpoints on the creation of a process-based model that can be adopted and implemented for halal food traceability in Kuwait’s halal food industry was the main goal of this study. A qualitative research design was adopted to address the aim, involving interviews with 4 halal processor and 5 government officials in the halal food sector. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The qualitative study found that farm-related processes, supplier-related processes and processors-based processes are critical components to be included in the model of the traceability system along with the application of innovative technologies (e.g., blockchain, internet-of-things). It was also noted that streaming the certification system and collaboration among stakeholders for designing an adoptable and implementable system is needed. Based on these perspectives of the halal food processors and government agencies in Kuwait, a process-based model of halal meat traceability was constructed, using Anylogic software, involving the farmers, suppliers and food processors-based processes which need to be integrated into a potential halal food traceability system. These results add to a larger body of research that aims to create a framework for traceable stakeholder requirements by using “business process modelling” to create a unified model.