Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
H. Hassan, J. Jamil, A. Arsat, A.A. Saidatul-Afzan & F.S. Chang
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
1 INTRODUCTION
in Malaysia increased every year. For instance in
1995, the numbers of cases were about 1438 as
compared to 8640 cases in 1999. Moreover, Health
Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the 311
cases was an increase of 29 cases from the previous
year which in 2009 and mostly due to contamina-
tion of food during preparation, transportation as
well as serving (Bernama, 2011). In 2000, World
Health Organization (WHO) claimed that, many
developing countries do not have a comprehensive
food safety program, meanwhile for food-borne
disease are often not reported. From the statement,
it was revealed that food premises grading system is
important and one of the ways to guide consumer
to select a better restaurant to avoid food poison-
ing. Hence, this study investigated the consumer
understanding on food premises grading system.
Grading of food premise was done annually when
the premise starts in operation and was issued with
a grading certificate, which will be required to be
displayed in a prominent position on the premise.
There are several objectives of grading system for
food premise which includes facilitating user to
make informed choices of food premises in pub-
lic areas, to increase the level of cleanliness, food
quality and safety, to instill values and practices of
self-cleanliness among food handler and to enable
food premises to consistently maintain high clean-
liness standards.
In addition, the grading system, which was
first introduced in the 1980's involving public par-
ticipation, especially customer who will choose the
premise they like based on its cleanliness. According
to Auckland Council (2011), the food grading sys-
tem is a program designed to improve food safety.
Therefore, all food premises that provide food to the
public must apply and display the license to show
their grade category. In addition, the council also
stated that consumer can judge how well the food
premise is complying with the rules and regulations
that govern food safety. Nonetheless, the grade of
the food premises will only make sense of consumer
perception of the various level of food grading (Maj-
lis Perbandaran Seberang Perai (MPSP), 2009).
Poor personal hygiene and sanitation perform-
ance are serious hazards in any food businesses
and also could harm customers. Personal hygiene
means conditions or practices of maintaining
good health habits including bathing, washing hair,
wearing clean clothing and frequent hand washing
while sanitary means healthful of hygienic where
it involves reducing the number of disease-causing
microorganisms on the equipment surfaces and
utensils to an acceptable public health level.
As reported, there were 11,226 cases from Janu-
ary till September 15 in 2007, a 100 percent increase
compared to the same period in 2006. Despite a
perceived higher awareness about food hygiene,
the country continues to be plagued with food
poisoning cases in 2010, which about 50 percent
involved were school canteens. Food poisoning
2 LITERATURE REVIEWS
In Malaysia, the food premise grading systems were
certificated by Ministry of Health. This means the
food premises are audited on a routine basis to
check if the premises meet the current rules and
regulations that were set by Ministry of Health.
According to Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai
(MPSP) (2009), on auditing, the inspection focuses
on several important aspects including the physical
condition of the premises at the time of the last
grading inspection, the conduct of the operator
and staff, cleaning and sanitizing of the premises,
training of staff and food safety procedures in
place. The level of cleanliness of the food premises
are classified by grade marks which are 'A' for 80
percent to 100 percent, 'B' for 65 percent to 79 per-
cent, 'C' for 50 percent to 64 percent while 'D' for
0 percent to 50 percent. Under Section 11 in Food
Act 1983 the food premises that obtain grade D
need for immediate closure not exceeding 14 days.
2.1
Food premise grading system: Malaysian
perspective
Generally in Malaysia, through the government
enforcement on food grading system, it can be seen
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