Factors That Influence Food Waste Behavior Among Hospitalized Patients in Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II
Abstract
Food waste in hospitals is a significant issue with implications for both environmental sustainability and healthcare efficiency. This study investigates the factors of food attributes influencing food waste behaviour among hospitalized patients in Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZ II). Specifically, it seeks to examine how food quality, food presentation and food portion affect consumer behaviour towards food waste problems among hospitalized patients. A mixed-methods approach was used, collecting data via surveys from hospitalized patients. The questionnaire, divided into six sections employed a Likert scale for nuanced responses. This descriptive, cross-sectional study utilized purposive sampling to ensure relevant perspectives, targeting 417 respondents to boost validity and reliability. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27 was used for data analysis from the questionnaire. The data analysis methods used include reliability analysis, descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that food attribute variables—food quality, food presentation and food portion—positively influence consumer behaviour towards food waste problems among hospitalized patients, with food presentation emerging as the most significant predictor. These findings highlight the critical need to minimize the environmental impact throughout the entire food cycle, from production to the disposal of leftover waste, to reduce food waste disposal problems in hospitals. Academically, this study serves as a foundation for future research, encouraging scholars and practitioners to further investigate the long-term effects of educational initiatives and cultural factors on food waste behaviors in advancing environmental sustainability.
Downloads
References
Aminuddin, N. F., Vijayakumaran, R. K., & Razak, S. A. (2018). Patient Satisfaction with Hospital Food Service and its Impact on Plate Waste in Public Hospitals in East Malaysia. Hospital Practices and Research, 3(3), 90–97. https://doi.org/10.15171/hpr.2018.20
Antasouras, G., Vasios, G. K., Christos, K., Loannou, Z., Poulios, E., Deligiannidou, G. E., Troumbis, A. Y. & Giaginis, C. (2022). How to improve food waste management in hospitals through focussing on the four most common measures for reducing plate waste. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 38. 10.1002/hpm.3586.
Brennan, A., & Browne, S. (2021). Food Waste and Nutrition Quality in the Context of Public Health: A Scoping Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(10), 5379. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105379
Britannica. (2019). food | Definition & Nutrition. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/food
Chauhan, C., Dhir, A., & Salo, J. (2021). Food loss and waste in food supply chains. A systematic literature review and framework development approach, J. Cleaner Prod., 295, 126438
Chemah, T. C., Adilah, Z. N., Bachok, S., Mohi, Z., & Mohd, S. A. (2018). Plate waste in the public hospital's food service management in Selangor, Malaysia. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 11(36), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2018/v11i36/98468
Co?kun, A. & Yetkin Özbük, R. M. (2020). What influences consumer food waste behavior in restaurants? An application of the extended theory of planned behavior. Waste Management, 117, 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.08.011
David, J., Corchero, G., & Rubio, D. (2023). Patient satisfaction and health system responsiveness in a decentralised health system. Retrieved December 28, 2023, from https://digibug.ugr.es/bitstream/handle/10481/83359/92089.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y
Dhir, A., Talwar, S., Kaur, P., & Malibari, A. (2020). Food Waste in Hospitality and Food Services: A Systematic Literature Review and Framework Development Approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 270, 122861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122861
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5, 1-4.
https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Future Learn. (2022). What Is Food Quality? Updates, Insights, and News from Future Learn | Online Learning for You. Future Learn. https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/an-introduction-to-food-science/0/steps/160685
Gluchowski, Artur & Koteluk, Katarzyna & Czarniecka-Skubina, Ewa. (2024). Effect of Shape, Size, and Color of the Food Plate on Consumer Perception of Energy Value, Portion Size, Attractiveness, and Expected Price of Dessert. Foods. 13. 2063. 10.3390/foods13132063.
Ishangulyyev, R., Kim, S., & Lee, S. H. (2019). Understanding Food Loss and Waste—Why Are We Losing and Wasting Food? Foods, 8(8), 297. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8080297
Karan, E. P., Asgari, S., & Asadi, S. (2023). Resilience assessment of centralized and distributed food systems. Food security, 15(1), 59–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01321-9
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
Mackenzie-Shalders, Kristen & Maunder, Kirsty & So, Daniel & Norris, Rebecca & McCray, Sally. (2020). Impact of electronic bedside meal ordering systems on dietary intake, patient satisfaction, plate waste and costs: A systematic literature review. Nutrition & Dietetics. 77. 10.1111/1747-0080.12600.
Ministry Of Health Malaysia. (2021). National Coordinating Committee on Food and Nutrition (NCCFN). https://hq.moh.gov.my/nutrition/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Web%20MDG.pdf
National Catering and Nutrition Specification for Food and Fluid Provision in Hospitals in Scotland. (2016). https://hub.careinspectorate.com/media/2856/food-in-hospitals-national-catering-and-nutrition-specification-for-food-and-fluid-provision-in-hospitals-in-scotland.pdf
Norshariza, J., Siti Farrah Zaidah, M. Y., Basmawati, B., Leow, C., Lina, I., Norafidza, A. A. P., Khalizah, J., John Kong, J. P. & Lim, S. M. (2019). Evaluation of factors affecting food wastage among hospitalized patients on therapeutic diet at Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals. Asian J Diet 1:111-120.
Ofei, A., Paarima, Y., & Barnes, T. (2020) Exploring the management competencies of nurse managers in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences 13: 100248.
Osman, N. S., Md Nor, N., Md Sharif, M. S., Hamid, S. B. A., & Rahamat, S. (2021). Hospital Food Service Strategies to Improve Food Intakes among Inpatients: A Systematic Review. Nutrients, 13(10), 3649. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103649
Rusyda, A. L. (2024). A systematic literature review of consuming-stage interventions in addressing food waste reduction in lower- and upper-middle-income countries. Journal of Community Empowerment for Health. 163-170. 10.22146/jcoemph.96618.
Seberini, A. (2020). Economic, social and environmental world impacts of food waste on society and zero waste as a global approach to their elimination. SHS Web of Conferences, 74(03010), 03010. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207403010
Siddiqui, S., Khatoon, A., & Ahmad, K. (2022) Traditional Islamic Herbal Medicine and Complementary Therapies. In: Bernardo-Filho, M., et al., Eds., Complementary Therapies, Intech Open, London.
https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101927
Unit Record of Statistic Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (2023), Statistic of Hospitalized Patients in HRPZ II 2023 https://hrpz2.moh.gov.my/v6/statistik/
Wafi, M. A. A., & Tumiran, M. A. (2022). Food Waste Management in Malaysia: A Brief Introduction. In food waste management in Malaysia (pp. 275–282). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2390-6_26
Wang, Lingfei & Yang, Yuqin & Wang, Guoyan. (2022). The Clean Your Plate Campaign: Resisting Table Food Waste in an Unstable World. Sustainability. 14. 1-17. 10.3390/su14084699.
Wierda, J. J., Troost, E., & Poelman, M. P. (2024). Characterizing food environments of hospitals and long-term care facilities in the Netherlands: a mixed methods approach. BMC health services research, 24(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10399-6
Copyright (c) 2025 Nur Amanina Idris, Amir Manshoor, Nor Ayuni Nawawa Yusri, Nur Anies Natasya Esran, Imam Ardiansyah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.
