Quality Assurance Practices of the Food Manufacturers in Malaysia

摘要

In the context of food manufacturing industry, quality systems are responsible for the assurance of food hygiene, food safety and food quality. Over the years, extensive studies were conducted on quality assurance and quality management models of the SMEs or large companies. Very limitedstudies reported in food-related field, particularly in the Malaysia context. Previous literature focused mainly on a general and large population. This study intended to fills the gap by investigating the quality assurance practices in the of Malaysia food manufacturing companies. A surveyquestionnaire was developed and data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Data was tested with Cronbach alpha to check for the reliability and subsequently followed by descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the current quality assurance practicesimplemented by the Malaysia food manufacturing companies. It was found that HACCP food safety management system and GMP food hygiene practices were the two most commonly implemented practices among the food manufacturers. This was followed by ISO 9001 system. TQM was found to be the leastimplemented system. It is believed that this is the first research that cover major dimensions of the international standard. In term of implication to food manufacturers, it was encouraged to make use of the questionnaire as a checklist to facilitate in food quality controlling. At the sametime, improve the implementation extent of the existing practices.