Mariam Abdul Latif has studied in Malaysia, London and Indonesia to obtain degrees specialising in Agriculture, Nutrition, Halal Food Management and Halal Nutrition. 

She was lecturing at the Agriculture Institutes in 1979 and was a Food Technologist with the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) for 17 years. She specialized in international food standards, the Codex Alimentairus of the United Nation, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She headed the Halal Certification Unit under the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) for 3 years and was the Vice President (Halal Integrity) of Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) Malaysia. She initiated the Halal Industry Training Programme and the World Halal Research Summit in 2007 and presented more than 200 papers on Halal and Halal industry in Malaysia as well abroad (China, Australia, France, Netherlands, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, London, Kuwait, Russia, New Zealand and Iran). A Fellow Researcher at the Halal Product Research Institute (HPRI), Universiti Putra Malaysia and a Panel Expert at the Institute of Halal Research and Management (IHRAM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. She is currently the Head of Food Safety and Quality Unit under the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition besides lecturing Halal Food, Food Laws and Human Nutrition at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. UMS is the 9th public university in Malaysia sited in Sabah, the northern part of Borneo island. She facilitates food safety and halal food trainings for the industry, the regulators and the public.