6.

Previous Studies

Kandampully (2007) states that food is essential to sustain life and it is also an
important business component in the hospitality industry. Oxford Dictionary defines fast food
restaurant as easily prepared processed food in restaurants as a quick meal or to be taken
away. Whereas restaurant is defined as a place where people pay to sit and eat meals that are
cooked and served on the premises.

Food hygiene and safety rules in Malaysia falls under the Food Hygiene Regulations
2009. The objectives of these regulations is to ensure food premises are hygienic, food
handlers maintain personal hygiene and equipment and appliances used are clean and
suitable. Noor-Azira (2012) conducted a study among 64 food handlers from various food
premises in Kuala Pilah. She has found out that food handlers in Kuala Pilah, Malaysia have
great knowledge and attitude, and good practices toward food hygiene. However, even
though the knowledge of food hygiene among food handlers were satisfactory, some hygiene
aspects still need to be emphasized.

There are several researches that are conducted locally to investigate the food hygiene
and safety of different kinds of restaurants. Faridah Hanim (2015) has found out that most
mobile food handlers in Shah Alam are aware of food safety and hygiene. Mazni Saad (2013)
has found out that food handlers at Malaysian Government Institutions Training Centers
scored between 3.24 to 5.73 mean scores for hygiene which indicated that good hygiene have
been practiced in the institutions.

Mohammad Halim Jeinie (2016) researched of Food Safety and Hygiene Practice
(FSHP) among hotels in Malaysia and found positive feedback on the implications of FSHP
in the hotel restaurants. Besides, an article written by Jarod Lim for The Star (2017) titled
“No compromise on food safety” depicts McDonald’s discipline towards food safety. The
staffs are required to wash their hands every hour with anti-microbial hand wash to ensure
that they do not contaminate the food during the preparation process.

Although there have been a lot of researches conducted on food hygiene and safety
rules in various food premises in Malaysia, there have yet to be a research dedicated on
comparing the food hygiene and safety practice between fast food restaurants and non-fast
food restaurants. This study hopefully would be able to distinguish which type of restaurant
possess a greater food hygiene and safety practice.