Lowering of palm oil cloud point by enzymatic acidolysis

This study was carried out to lower the cloud point value of palm oil by enzymatic acidolysis at different mole ratio of palm oil to capric acid of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:5. Lipase 1, 3-specific from Rhizomucor miehei; lipozyme RM IM was used in this study. Cloud point value was determined using PORIM p4.3 method (1995). Results showed that by increasing the mole ratio of palm oil to capric acid resulted in the increase of cloud point value before and after acidolysis significantly (p<0.05). The cloud point value was decreased after acidolysis for each mole ratio

Accessing hotel responsiveness towards guest's email query: cases in Malaysia

Information Technology (IT) has given tremendous positive effects in hospitality industry. It’s the most powerful weapon for hoteliers in order to stay competitive nowadays. One of the examples of technology that hit the hospitality world is e-mail. This study focused on three to five star hotels listed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts & Tourism of Malaysia that provide e-mail as a medium of communication and internet activity for its online patrons. Actual e-mail was sent to hotels asking for room availability, special room rate and facilities at the hotel. The implementation of technology in relation to customer service which is guest’s e-mail queries still remains unknown although technology initiation can be considered successful among hotels in Malaysia. As hoteliers, do they answer the guest’s e-mail queries promptly, politely and professionally

Customer's perception towards McDonald's icon-based nutritional labels

Nowadays, nutritional labels are very important instruments in the restaurant industry as it helps customers in making informed food choices. Therefore, McDonald’s should take action to become the first in the world to make extensive nutritional information and comprehensive ingredient listings and other food facts available to the customers. Additionally, McDonald’s provided in-store nutrition information pamphlets, on food wrappers, on tray placemats as well as official restaurant website in order to let the customers be aware of it. However, McDonald’s are always perceived as unhealthy restaurants and portray a bad image to the public. In relation to that, in order to change public perception towards fast foods, nutrition label acts as a safety guide in choosing healthy foods. Thus, this study aims to determine customers’ perception on the icon-based nutrition labels of McDonald’s food products. The study was conducted at McDonald’s outlets within Shah Alam area and the data was gathered through self-administered questionnaires. From the analyses, the results showed that customers positively perceived McDonald’s icon-based nutrition labels as a good effort and step towards healthier lifestyle as people nowadays are more conscious and aware of their health and nutritious food intake. Furthermore, the findings revealed some important points which could be useful for the fast food operators, food manufacturers as well as other restaurant operators to come out with the idea of producing nutrition labels as a new marketing strategy or tool. Additionally, it will increase customer turn over, as well as create a new environment geared towards a healthy lifestyle. As a final point, for future researchers they should explore on the effectiveness of nutritional labels on the customer in terms of making healthy food choices. In addition, the study can be broadened to investigate whether nutritional labels help build more trust in providing nutrition information to the customers in making decisions to buy a meal

Online grocery shopping: the affect of time availability on Malaysian consumer preferences

Online grocery shopping is a new way of buying desired grocery products for household consumption. It has been started in Malaysia few years back with early local online grocer such as PasarBorong.com, SubangGrocer.com, CGdeMart.com and Citrasspicemart.com. Due to the advancement of today technology, online grocery shopping is gaining their market share in the food retail industry in Malaysia. Therefore, this study examined the perceptions and preferences of Malaysian consumers towards online grocery shopping. It is also examines three (3) important factors in online grocery shopping; cost and charges, time availability and convenience of online grocery shopping, which will contribute to the impact of online grocery shopping. Sample of population for this study were consumers who had some experience in online food retailing, particularly online grocery shopping and also those who have not yet to use internet to purchase grocery products. The researcher used self administered questionnaire and applied quota sampling in this study to represent three main ethnic in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese and Indian). Result of the study showed that Malaysian consumers were disagreeing on the extra cost and charges of online grocery shopping charged by the online grocers. The same feeling they expressed on the time availability that they have and also the time used to navigate the online pages. Most of the respondents were strongly disagree to have a repeat purchase for buying grocery product online. Therefore, the overall findings highlighted some important points which should be useful to the online grocers in order for them to capture the market and also to have repeat business in the future. It also helps the online grocers to understand consumers’ needs and preferences in online grocery shopping. By acknowledging this study, online grocers are able to position themselves in the market at par to be accepted by Malaysian consumers

Effect of reheating process on the frozen coating system

This study was conducted to determine the effect of the reheating process on the frozen coating system of chicken nuggets including its water content, fat content and sensory evaluation using local agriculture and agro based flours such as wheat, rice and sago which are commonly used in Small Medium Enterprise (SME) in lowering cost of coating product ingredients. Three frying temperatures were used namely, 150, 165 and 180°C. Three types of batter, wheat, rice and sago batters were prepared at water to batter ratio of 1:1:2. Chicken nuggets were reheated for 420 seconds in a mini fryer. Results showed that increasing of reheating temperature resulted in the reduction of coating moisture content and an increase in substrate moisture content. However no significant difference was detected (p>0.05). Moisture content of coating and substrate chicken nuggets before reheating was higher than after reheating using 150, 165 and 180°C of frying temperature. Coating oil content increased while substrate oil content decreased but no significant difference was evident (p>0.05). Oil content of coating and substrate chicken nuggets before reheating were lower than after the reheating process. For sensory evaluation, no significant difference (p>0.05) was evident between all the attributes for all samples except in the coating colour and crispiness attribute. The highest score for coating colour was achieved at 180°C of frying temperature followed by 165 and 150°C for all types of batter. The same pattern of result was found for crispiness attribute except for rice batter where the highest score was achieved at 165°C of frying temperature. In conclusion, the physicochemical and sensory property evaluated was affected by the frozen coating system of chicken nugget by the different reheating temperatures. Further research, analyze on heat and substance transfer during the phase change in food system by conducting moving boundary analysis (MBA) studies during the thawing process, drying and frying are highly recommended in order to increased quality of food produced

Food borne illness risk factors assessment in UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia.

This study was conducted on 14 food dining halls in UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia to seek compliance and degree to food safety practices based on Food and Drug Administration, 2004 (FDA) assessment method and practices. The study incorporate interviews, observations, field assessments and discussion with the campus management in order to verify current states and practices. Overall results showed that food safety practices implemented in students’ dining halls in UiTM Shah Alam were at a good level (7 dining halls), satisfactory (6 dining halls) and unsatisfactory (1 dining hall). Food borne illness risk factors that were analyzed include safe food sources, food storing temperature and stock control, personal hygiene, cross contamination and safe food holding temperature. The two risks factors were at an acceptable level; safe food sources and personal hygiene. Safe food sources had achieved 92% and personal hygiene with 92.3% of the compliance level set by the FDA’s Food Safety Risk Level. Other risk factors; food storing temperature and stock control, safe food holding temperature and cross contamination were recorded at 74%, 72.5% and 69.6% of the level set which were out of compliance level based on the FDA assessment