Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias

Food loss and waste are mainly occur in developing and industrialised Asian countries due to spoilage in warm and humid climates. Service is one of the main food waste generator including restaurants and institutions. This study aimed to investigate and quantify the food waste generated from cafeter...

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Main Authors: Md Daud, Rafidah, Abdul Rahman, Haliza, Naim, Faridah
Format: Article
Published: Human Resource Management Academic Research Society 2022
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101823/
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author Md Daud, Rafidah
Abdul Rahman, Haliza
Naim, Faridah
author_facet Md Daud, Rafidah
Abdul Rahman, Haliza
Naim, Faridah
author_sort Md Daud, Rafidah
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Food loss and waste are mainly occur in developing and industrialised Asian countries due to spoilage in warm and humid climates. Service is one of the main food waste generator including restaurants and institutions. This study aimed to investigate and quantify the food waste generated from cafeterias in Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus (USMKK). Weighing of food waste were conducted daily and repeated for three cafeterias within five weeks using portable hanging weight scales. Questionnaire were distributed randomly to 369 respondents. This survey was conducted to investigate customers’ opinions on food waste issues within university cafeterias. The number of customers was determined using a checklist. The results indicated that USMKK cafeterias generated average of 71.78 kg avoidable food waste and 275.93 kg unavoidable food waste. 26% of the customers claimed that they were regularly leave a quarter plate or bowl of uneaten food. Significant positive correlations (p<0.001) were found between number of customers and amount of food waste generated at the cafeterias. Factors that influence the generation of food waste at the cafeterias were include poor food quality, lack of freshness of the food, habits of consuming little amount of food and hours of operation of the cafeterias. The amount of avoidable and unavoidable food waste generated between the three cafeterias were significantly difference (p=0.001). Awareness campaign could increase the level of knowledge about food waste among customers. This would help the top management to plan suitable programme in minimising the production of food waste as to support sustainable environment.
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institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T13:36:08Z
publishDate 2022
publisher Human Resource Management Academic Research Society
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spelling upm-1018232023-09-21T03:47:27Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101823/ Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias Md Daud, Rafidah Abdul Rahman, Haliza Naim, Faridah Food loss and waste are mainly occur in developing and industrialised Asian countries due to spoilage in warm and humid climates. Service is one of the main food waste generator including restaurants and institutions. This study aimed to investigate and quantify the food waste generated from cafeterias in Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus (USMKK). Weighing of food waste were conducted daily and repeated for three cafeterias within five weeks using portable hanging weight scales. Questionnaire were distributed randomly to 369 respondents. This survey was conducted to investigate customers’ opinions on food waste issues within university cafeterias. The number of customers was determined using a checklist. The results indicated that USMKK cafeterias generated average of 71.78 kg avoidable food waste and 275.93 kg unavoidable food waste. 26% of the customers claimed that they were regularly leave a quarter plate or bowl of uneaten food. Significant positive correlations (p<0.001) were found between number of customers and amount of food waste generated at the cafeterias. Factors that influence the generation of food waste at the cafeterias were include poor food quality, lack of freshness of the food, habits of consuming little amount of food and hours of operation of the cafeterias. The amount of avoidable and unavoidable food waste generated between the three cafeterias were significantly difference (p=0.001). Awareness campaign could increase the level of knowledge about food waste among customers. This would help the top management to plan suitable programme in minimising the production of food waste as to support sustainable environment. Human Resource Management Academic Research Society 2022-12-07 Article PeerReviewed Md Daud, Rafidah and Abdul Rahman, Haliza and Naim, Faridah (2022) Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12 (14). 157 - 176. ISSN 2222-6990 https://hrmars.com/index.php/IJARBSS/article/view/15821/Improving-Food-Security-Through-Quantification-of-Food-Waste-A-Small-Study-at-Universitys-Cafeterias 10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i14/15821
spellingShingle Md Daud, Rafidah
Abdul Rahman, Haliza
Naim, Faridah
Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title_full Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title_fullStr Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title_full_unstemmed Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title_short Improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at University's cafeterias
title_sort improving food security through quantification of food waste: a small study at university's cafeterias
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101823/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101823/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/101823/