Assessing plate waste in public hospital foodservice management - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 363

quantitative approach within one research project
were employed the study is considered as mixed
method approach. This study will be conducted in
Selangor represented by two public hospitals, Hos-
pital Klang and Hospital Selayang with the capac-
ity of 893 and 960 numbers of beds respectively.
The total number of diet patients from two
selected hospital has been taken. From the selected
number of samples, researcher came out with sev-
eral characteristics in order to select the respondents
which are (i) Malaysian; (ii) adult patients age above
18 years old; (iii) normal diet patient; (iv) able to
communicate and (v) admitted to the hospitals for
at least two days. Then, systematic sampling tech-
nique will be adapted in collecting data process.
The instrumentation will consist of two parts
which are visual estimation chart and semi struc-
tured questionnaire that are divided into three sec-
tions, which include (i) demographic; (ii) reason
for plate waste and (iii) open-ended question for
future explanation and suggestion.

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4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The findings of this study are expected to contrib-
ute to the extension of knowledge on the influences
of food properties towards plate waste generation
in public hospitals. By understanding the causes of
plate waste by normal diet patients, it will help the
organization to form strategies in improving their
daily food system and quality of foods.
Moreover, in academic perspectives, the infor-
mation in this study can be used as a baseline data
for future research and create awareness on the
need for contract revision for other researchers.

5 CONCLUSION

Plate waste is not good in any society. As men-
tioned before, plate waste will contribute to malnu-
trition among patients and it becomes an indicator
of successful service for a health institution. Plate
waste also will directly affect the amount of food
cost in an organization. Therefore this study will
provide a specific reason on how plate waste could
happen, and it may help the organization to find
the best way to reduce it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors would like to thank Pn. Harizah Mohd
Yaacob and Dr. Safina Mohamad from Hospital
Selayang and Dr. Pukunan Renganathan from
Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang for
their support and assistance throughout the study.