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This project was implemented to help low-income and underprivileged women grow their small businesses. This project aims to identify and analyse the problems faced by underprivileged women, focusing on food packaging. The participants were from Kampung Pinggan Jaya, Kuching Sarawak in Malaysia, who run small and medium food businesses. The food categories were based on dry and frozen foods, which were mainly homemade. The participants were housewives aged between 30 and 45 years with low monthly household incomes ranging from US $45 (MYR 200) to US $168 (MYR 750). Thus, the project's main objective is to improve product packaging to establish itself in the local market. Empathy mapping was the technique of choice as it demonstrates collaborative visualisation. Consequently, an entrepreneurship workshop was organised to identify potential products and participants interested in the project. Some problems and constraints during project implementation were due to financial concerns, attitudes, and illiteracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The significant contribution of the food and beverage industry to Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product is projected to increase in the upcoming years. With the industry's expansion, the demand for workers on food premises would also continuously increase. The food industry workers are exposed to risks arising from physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards while performing their duties. Thus, it is essential for these workers to be equipped with proper knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) in safety and health. Aims: This study aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the safety and health programme TRIMOSH (Theory-Based Intervention Module on Occupational Safety and Health) in improving the knowledge, attitude, and practice among food industry workers. Methods: TRIMOSH intervention study is a two-arm randomised, single-blinded, controlled, parallel trial that will be conducted among food industry workers in Selangor, Malaysia. In a partnership with Food Handler Training Schools in Selangor, 10 pairs of Food Handler Training Schools with 12 participants per group (n = 240) will be recruited for balanced randomisation intervention and control conditions. Furthermore, data collection of all participants was conducted at four time points: baseline (T0), immediately (T1), one month (T2), and three months (T3) post-intervention. Generalised Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) will be conducted to determine the effects of intervention within and between study groups. Subsequently, the primary outcomes increase the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of safety and health at food premises. Clinical Trial Registry registration was approved by the ClinicalTrials.gov committee on October 2022 with the ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05571995. This study has also been approved by the Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects of Universiti Putra Malaysia (JKEUPM-2022-346). All participants are required to provide consent prior to participation. Conclusions: The characteristics of the respondents are expected to show no difference between the groups. It is hypothesised that TRIMOSH is effective in improving the knowledge, attitude, and practices of food industry workers in Selangor. The results will be reported and presented in international peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and other platforms. In addition, the TRIMOSH programme will be offered at the national level by the relevant authorities for the benefit of food industry workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Malaysia's gross domestic product is heavily influenced by the food and beverage sector and the contribution of the industry to the national economy is expected to increase in the coming years. Thus, the need for employees in the food industry will continue to rise as this sector grows. Nevertheless, employees in the food industry are exposed to various occupational hazards that can lead to occupational injuries, mainly related to kitchen work. Given the increasing number of employees in the food industry and the rising trend of occupational injuries, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of recent occupational injuries and their associated factors and predictors among food industry workers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2023 among food industry workers in Selangor, Malaysia. The respondents were sampled using a multistage random sampling method. Data were collected via online self-administered questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models in the SPSS software, version 25. Results: A total of 250 responses were received from 342 samples, with an overall response rate of 73.0%. The prevalence of recent occupational injuries among food industry workers was 44.8%. Statistically, significant associations were present between occupational injuries and alcohol consumption (p = 0.001), poor knowledge (p = 0.031), poor compliance (p = 0.021), poor safety management (p = 0.021), poor safety training (p = 0.002), poor safety culture (p = 0.003), physical exposure (p < 0.001), and ergonomic exposure (p = 0.009). The predictors for recent occupational injuries among food industry workers were Malay (adjusted Odds Ratio; aOR = 2.60, p = 0.027, 95% Confidence Interval; CI = 1.116, 6.035), alcohol consumption (aOR = 5.31, p = 0.001, 95% CI = 2.042, 13.779), poor knowledge (aOR = 1.98, p = 0.032, 95% CI = 1.059, 3.691), poor safety culture (aOR = 2.44, p = 0.002, 95% CI = 1.372, 4.342), and exposure to physical hazards (aOR = 8.88, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 3.031, 26.014). Conclusion: This study has found a high prevalence of occupational injuries among food industry workers, thereby highlighting the importance of addressing alcohol consumption, improving worker knowledge, enhancing work safety culture, and better control measures on exposure to physical hazards, especially among Malay workers. By prioritising these factors, employers can create safer work environments and minimise the risk of occupational injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Snail allergy is rare but can be fatal. Pila polita, a freshwater snail, was considered as a popular exotic food, particularly in tropical countries, and consumed in processed forms. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the major and cross‐reactive allergens of P. polita and to determine the impact of food processing on the allergen stability. RESULTS: Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis fractionated raw snail extract to approximately 24 protein bands, between 9 and 245 kDa. The prominent band at 33 kDa was detected in all raw and processed snail extracts. Immunoblotting tests of the raw extract demonstrated 19 immunoglobulin E (IgE)‐binding proteins, and four of them, at 30, 35, 42 and 49 kDa, were revealed as the major IgE‐binding proteins of P. polita. Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry identified the 49 and 42 kDa major allergens as actin, whereas the 30 and 35 kDa major allergens were identified as tropomyosin. Immunoblotting revealed that the raw snail had more allergenic proteins than the processed snail. The degree of allergenicity in decreasing order was raw > brine pickled> boiled > roasted > fried > vinegar pickled. The presence of cross‐reactivity between P. polita and the shellfish tested was exhibited with either no, complete, or partial inhibitions. CONCLUSION: Actin and tropomyosin were identified as the major and cross‐reactive allergens of P. polita among local patients with snail allergy. Those major allergens are highly stable to high temperatures, acidic pH, and high salt, which might played a crucial role in snail allergy in Malaysia. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian manufacturing firms play an important role in the country's social and economic development. However, the industry faces challenges in productivity and competitiveness due to rapid globalization and economic instabilities affecting countries worldwide. To address these challenges, technological capability has become an essential requirement for a firm's technological progress to remain sustainable and competitive. This study aims to identify factors that influence the technological capability of food manufacturing firms by using a questionnaire. Using IBM SPSS Statistics 27, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to examine the dataset obtained from the survey and analyze the factors that contribute to a firm's technological capability. Overall, firms are influenced by knowledge management, organizational learning, and organizational innovation in their technological capability development. By understanding these factors, firms can develop their technological capability and further improve their productivity, ultimately achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High salt intake is a major cause of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The out-of-home sectors have been identified as one of the contributors of high salt intake in the population. The National Salt Reduction Policy of Malaysia was initiated in 2015; however, out-of-home sectors are yet to be emphasized and perception by policy-makers and the food industries towards salt reduction are yet unknown. This study aimed to determine the perceptions, barriers and enablers towards salt reduction in the out-of-home sector in Malaysia, as well as among policy-makers and the food industries. Methods: This is a qualitative study via semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDI) and focus group discussions (FGD) involving several stakeholders consisting of policy-makers from five ministries, five nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and food science/food technology researchers from five regions (West, North, East, and South Peninsular and East Malaysia/Borneo), as well as the food industries. The IDI and FGD sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using Nvivo software version 12. Results: All participants agreed that salt intake in Malaysia is high and leads to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Lack of awareness, poor eating culture and behaviour and frequent eating out were among the causes of high salt intake. Awareness campaigns and education, sodium content labelling and product reformulation were strategies that have been implemented by the government; whilst for the food industries, some of them have tried to reduce salt and labelled the sodium content on their food products. However, there were several barriers including perceived poor consumer acceptance, lack of knowledge and resources, and challenges in reformulation, as well as unavailability of guidelines and salt targets. Hence, several enablers have been suggested, which include prioritizing the salt reduction strategy, creating more awareness, collaboration and engagement, research and technology particularly for reformulation and shelf-life stability, incentives and salt tax. Conclusions: Salt reduction efforts of the out-of-home sector in Malaysia could be achieved through several measures or enablers that can overcome the barriers currently faced by stakeholders, especially policy-makers, food industries and the consumers themselves. This study will benefit the policy-makers to improve the salt reduction policy of out-of-home sectors and highlight the concerns among the food industries on the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many industries operate or run 24 h and seven days a week with downtime only for maintenance and repair in manufacturing facilities. This continuous operating trend allows for a higher production volume since the industry has relentless pressures on cost containment to maintain profit margins. However, the practice poses high risks of occupational injuries or major accidents. Shift working hours could lead to various safety and health and significantly impact the workers' well-being. Based on this fact, this paper presents a correlation analysis of shift works with sleep patterns, fatigue, and work injuries in food manufacturing plants, specifically in Malaysia. A survey using a set of questionnaires was conducted on two food manufacturing industries in Selangor, Malaysia. The industry operates continuously with a pre-planned downtime due to market globalization, industrialization transformation, and the rising demand for food. The companies in the food manufacturing industry held frequent internal and external audits to ensure the food quality was not being compromised and adhered to the local acts and regulations. To ensure the company runs continuously, the companies practice slow rotation schedules of shift work systems, where workers change to a new shift every three months. The companies have three working shifts per day, namely the morning shift (7.00 am to 3.00 pm), the afternoon shift (3.00–11.00 pm) and the night shift (11.00 pm to 7.00 am). Based on the statistical analysis, many workers prefer the day shift over the afternoon and night shifts. Sleep patterns and fatigue are significantly correlated with work-related injuries. Due to shift work, the workers tend to have fewer sleep hours, resulting in poor sleep patterns, which could increase the possibility of work injuries. In conclusion, workers' physical, mental and social well-being in any industry should be promoted and maintained to the highest degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Sadd al-dharai' is a secondary source in Islamic law where it means blocking the means. Sadd al-dharai' is essential for Muslim jurists to deal with the Shariah issues particularly in the halal food industry. This is because the area of the halal food industry has expanded and industrialized to accommodate the demand of the Muslim society that keeps increasing year on year. In this regard, the halal-related issues are getting complex and need Shariah clarification since many new food processing involving critical ingredients, equipment, and multi-process which require meticulous Shariah observation on this matter. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the extent to which the employment of the sadd al-dharai' as a credible tool adopted by Muslim jurist in dealing with the halal-related issues triggered in the halal food supply chain stage based on the halal certification process. Methodology: This reviewed paper is a qualitative research study in nature where document analysis employed in this study to collect the data. The Malaysian fatwas, books, articles either in the form of physical or online were gathered to answer the objective of the study. The data collected mostly from the years of 2010 until 2020 unless the related fatwas where the fatwas are subject to its issuance year and suitability. The researchers used several keywords alternatively like 'sadd al-dharai' in halal industry', 'fatwa and halal certification', 'food industry and Islamic law' to find out relevant articles related to this discussion on the needs to investigate the employment of sadd al-dharai' in dealing with the halal-related issues triggered in the halal food supply chain stage based on the halal certification process. This study further simultaneously adopted the content analysis technique where the data was manually analysed and divided into four major themes based on the objective of the study. Findings: The study has indicated that sadd al-dharai' has its peculiar function in many aspects of the Malaysia halal certification process in Malaysia, and it could be viewed based on the two approaches, namely the establishment of the halal regulatory framework and the fatwa issuance. The principle of preventing the negative aspects must take precedence, in accordance with the rule "dar'u al mafasid muqaddam 'ala jalb al-mashalih" by adopting several preventive actions is very significant in ensuring the halal food products reach the consumers are halalan tayyibban. Contributions: This study suggests that the Muslim jurists need to take into consideration the sadd aldharai' as one of the sources of Shariah in ensuring the management of the halal certification process is efficient and in line with maqasid al-Shariah. Besides, Muslim consumers could also access halal food products that are free from harmful elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept in which corporations take into account the interest of the society in four areas of responsibility namely economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. In the area of food manufacturing, corporate social responsibility plays a vital role by ensuring that food is healthy and in adherence to safety standards. The Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 play an important role in enforcing corporate social responsibility amongst food manufacturers. Institutional framework in Malaysia such as, Ministry of Health, Food and Safety Quality Division and FOSIM were established to ensure that food-processing activities are according to the required hygiene and safety standards. It is discovered through National Consumer Complaint Centre reports that the enforcement in food safety needs improvement. The paper also examines the role of non-governmental agencies, namely, the Consumer Association of Penang and the National Consumer Complaints Centre, in channeling and documenting complaints from consumers to relevant enforcement agencies. This paper intends to analyse the duties of food manufacturers and to identify legislations that enforce CSR amongst food manufacturers. Adopting the content analysis method, this paper will examine the principle of CSR as contained in the Food Act 1983. This paper further discusses the roles of institutional frameworks namely, the Ministry of Health, Food Safety and Quality Division and FOSIM in enforcing corporate social responsibility amongst food manufacturers. This article aims to contribute namely to various stakeholders ie: the government in which CSR policies can be connected to food safety through our hard and soft laws and consumers will be more aware and educated in which they will support food companies that are implementing CSR in their food production. The paper also serves as a guide to food manufacturers as they will be more particular in their CSR efforts to garner more support towards their food products. With a good CSR policy and food safety efforts Malaysia will be able to increase its revenue in import and export of food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of human life and forced many businesses to close. In attempt to manage the outbreak, many countries have executed series of Movement Control Orders (MCOs) and non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI). Small food operators in Malaysia endeavor to keep operating their businesses, with strict policies imposed by the government. This study reviews the literature pertaining to the impacts of COVID-19 on business, specifically small food businesses in Malaysia and identify their survival strategies during the crisis. Major shift from traditional towards online approach, using modern technology such as food apps was an eye-opening strategy. The online platform provides great opportunities for food businesses during the current emergency, adding the financial aid from Malaysian Government. The current pandemic offers a unique opportunity for food business operators to identify another dimension expanding the business model and begin to adapt into modern technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmaceuticals have been among the items that have seen significant growth in the halal business, both Malaysia and internationally, over the years. While the food industry has received most of the attention in the halal industry, there have been few systematic literature review (SLR) on halal pharmaceutical research to date. This SLR was conducted to compile pertinent information on pre-established eligibility criteria and research questions. The goal of this SLR was to examine the trends in the previous studies on halal pharmaceutical research, to assess at current practices, issues, and success factors within this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the performance of the Hollow Fiber (HF) and Flat Sheet (FS) types of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for the treatment of food and beverage (F&B) industry wastewater in a pilot-scale study of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). HF and FS membrane configurations were evaluated at two different Mixed Liquor Suspended Solid (MLSS) levels: 6000 mg/L and 12,000 mg/L. The performance of each configuration was evaluated in terms of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) removals for effluent quality measurement. The transmembrane pressure (TMP), flux rate, and silt density index (SDI) were monitored and calculated for membrane fouling assessment. The results show that the rejection rates of COD and TSS for HF and FS membrane types were more than 84% for the two different MLSS levels. During the study, the HF membrane recorded 0.3 bar transmembrane pressure, which complies with the recommended range (i.e., two to three times of chemical cleaning). On the other hand, the FS membrane operates without chemical cleaning, and the TMP value was below the recommended range at 0.2 bar. It was found that the flux values recorded for both the HF and FS systems were within the recommended range of 40 L/m2/h. Analysis of SDI revealed that the calculated index ranged between 1 and 2.38 and was within the allowable limit of 3. Both types of MBR consistently achieved an 80% to 95% rejection rate of COD and TSS. Effluent quality measurement of treated F&B wastewater in this pilot-scale study using a WWTP integrated with an MBR indicated a good achievement with compliance with the Malaysia industrial effluent discharge standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]