Solid-state fermentation (SSF), which is an excellent alternative for industrial enzyme production, entails the exploitation of cheap agro-industrial residues (low priced culture media). This paper delves into the cultivation of mould (GRAS Penicillium candium PCA 1/TT031) using wheat bran (WB) as the culture media. The parameters for crude enzymatic extraction of lipase production were optimized to achieve the highest possible lipase activity. An incubation period of 7 days (3.06 U/g WB), 2% of tributyrin (5.43 U/g WB), meat peptone equal to 2% (5.2 U/g WB), moisture content of 50% (v:w) (6.6 U/g WB), initial pH of 9.0( 8.6 U/g WB), inoculum size of 5×106 spore/g of WB (11.3 U/g WB), an incubation temperature of 20°C (13.6 U/g WB), and an extractant consisting of phosphate buffer pH 7.0 (14.7 U/g WB) were the conditions applied for this study.
Halal food industry has grown substantively worldwide in the last few years. It has become increasingly crucial to Muslim consumers due to its safety, hygiene and quality assurance. In Islam, Muslim consumers follow the Shariah and the food they consume should be halalan-thoyyiban, i.e. lawful or permissible, authentic, wholesome, and safe. In Malaysia, halal food manufacturers should comply with MS1500:2009 in order to obtain halal certification (halal logo). However, there is an increasing number of halal logo misuse cases and halal food’s questionable status. In addition, any improper description and inappropriate preparation of halal food has significant impacts unto the demand for halal food and buyers’ trust in consuming halal food. Hence, trust is an essential element in food production and it must be upheld along the halal food supply chain by all the parties involved. Given the significant role of trust in halal food production among Muslim consumers, this study aimed at examining the influence of halal practices integrity on halal supply chain trust and supply chain performance. Using a quantitative approach, survey questionnaires were distributed to 212 Malaysian halal food and beverages companies during halal food exhibitions and festivals. Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Square was used to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that halal practices integrity is significantly related to halal supply chain trust and supply chain performance. The results revealed that halal supply chain trust is significantly important in enhancing halal practices integrity and supply chain performance. The Malaysian government and various agencies in the halal industry should seriously take part in the development and promotion of halal food products to maintain consumer trust. The findings of this study would give some insights into the halal food supply chain integrity.
Plastic packaging is widely used by hawkers to pack food items within the foodservice industry. Despite of the various benefits brought about by plastics within the foodservice industry, concerns associated to food safety and solid waste disposal have been raised. Therefore, a study that involved 131 food hawkers at night markets in Kuala Selangor, Selangor, had been carried out to evaluate their perceptions pertaining to the use of plastic packaging to pack hot food items. As such, this study investigated the correlations between perceptions of food hawkers towards awareness, health hazards, environmental hazards, regulations, and the practice of using plastic packaging to pack hot edible food items. In addition, this study determined the most relevant predictor that influences the practice of using plastic packaging. A cross-sectional survey that integrated a self-administered structured questionnaire was employed for the purpose of this study. The retrieved data were analysed by using SPSS version 21. The study outcomes revealed that the food hawkers appeared to have good perceptions towards environmental hazard (3.52 ± 0.48) and regulation (3.51 ± 0.38), but poor perceptions on awareness (2.73 ± 0.66) and health hazard (2.55 ± 0.64). Nevertheless, significantly positive and moderate correlations were observed between health hazard (r = 0.45, p < 0.05), environmental hazard (r = 0.43, p < 0.05), regulations (r = 0.42, p < 0.05) and plastic packaging practices. The study reveals that health hazard emerges to be the main predictor of the plastic packaging practices. Hence, future studies may incorporate larger sample size and various locations in Malaysia as this study only serves as a platform to comprehend the practice of packing hot food items using plastic packaging from the stance of food hawkers.
The aim of this paper is to revisit the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in relation to the halal food market, specifically in the context of the Cadbury scandal. The present survey (with 132 respondents) replicates the original study of TPB in the context of halal food, done before the scandal, and the results are compared. We rationalize the differences, and assess the impact of the halal scandal on consumer purchasing behaviour. In doing so, we validate the impact of a food scandal in terms of the purchasing intentions of halal customers under a new (post-scandal) condition of uncertainty. The results provide in-depth insights into halal purchasing behaviour and are intended to be used: (a) to increase the understanding of the impact of a food scandal on purchasing behaviour, (b) to clarify whether a food scandal has a real effect on customers, and (c) to ascertain whether the determinants of purchasing intention are similar before and after a food scandal.
Sabah Snake Grass (Clinacanthus nutans) is interesting traditional medicine because of pharmacology characteristics that contain rich in phenolic content and antioxidant. The aim of study was to determine the optimum yield and exhaustive time extraction using Peleg’s model. Qualitative and quantification test for detection of orientin and vitexin using method of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Based on the results obtained, the optimum concentration for orientin (0.72 ± 0.002 mg/g) and vitexin (2.10 ± 0.13 mg/g) were observed at 18 h of extraction (texhaustive). The optimum extraction parameters for optimum recovery of phenolic content and antioxidant activities from the leaves of Clinachantus nutans were determined using response surface methodology (RSM). The total phenolic content (TPC) was analyzed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method and antioxidant activities were evaluated through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, 2,2’-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radical scavenging activity and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. A central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed to investigate the effects of ultrasonic frequency (X1: 25 - 40 kHz), temperature (X2: 40 - 80ºC) and solid-to-liquid ratio (X3: 10 - 30 ml/g) on the recovery of TPC (Y1) and antioxidant activities of DPPH (Y2) and FRAP (Y3). The optimal parameter achieved based on combination of extraction parameters: X1 = 25 kHz sonication capacity, X2 = 80ºC temperature and X3 = 30 g/ml of solid-liquid ratio. These optimum conditions yielded TPC of (25.09 mg GAE/g), DPPH (66.85%), and FRAP (9.44 μmol TE/g). The optimum values of TPC and DPPH from this study are comparable with green tea (benchmark). Our results revealed that distilled water may be a good choice for extracting antioxidant activity of Clinacanthus mutans. Concentration of orientin and vitexin compounds were extracted during optimization exhibited lower than the finding from Peleg model. Prolonged extraction at high temperature during optimization may degrade flavonoid and phenolic acid compounds. However, the concentration of extracted compound (orientin and vitexin) from the optimum parameters had produced high in phenolic content and antioxidant activity. In conclusion, the application of Peleg model was able to determine the extraction exhaustive time at the maximum extract yield. In addition, this study proved that the application both models (RSM and Peleg) have been successfully be able to provide the optimum extraction parameters with high total phenolic content and antioxidant activity.
Buyer and seller relationship has been one of prominent issues of discussion especially in an emerging country’s economy. In many ways, both parties interact with each other and over time will create long term relationships which may benefit them. This study focuses on the dynamic of trust between the fisherman (seller) and their buyer and the relationship of trust towards business performance. A total of 98 hook and line tuna fisherman in Mabul Island, Semporna were interviewed using guided-completion questionnaires. The data collected was tested using SmartPLS. The study reveals that communication was the strongest variable influencing trust followed by price satisfaction, interdependency and information sharing. On the same note, cultural similarities and flexibility were found non-significant towards trust. The study also found that trust has no direct influence towards business performance. From a managerial perspective, in order to be successful, channel members need to develop, maintain and seek improvements on communication, information sharing, interdependency and price satisfaction variables within the supply chain. It will be beneficial for members in the value chain to adopt the usage of information technology gadgets to boost communication and information sharing within the industry thus strengthening interdependency among members of the tuna fishing industry. From a theoretical perspective, the findings were consistent with previous researchers who also found that communication, information sharing, interdependency and price satisfaction variables were the main actors in the buyer-seller relationship context specifically on the trust dynamic. .
Majority consumers around the world have become increasingly concern and aware about their health and food safety. Recent food crisis and foodborne illness incidents showed the needs to assure the authenticity and traceability of foods in the market especially meat and meat products. These scandals have led to negative effect and perception to consumers, food companies and both supply and demand chain. Hence, the food industry needs an excellent and reliable traceability system to ensure that consumers are persistently well protected from unconscious consumption of unsafe foods. Therefore, traceability systems can support the claims by making it verifiable. However, the awareness among Malaysian consumers is still lacking due to the inadequate exposure towards concept and the importance of traceability systems particularly in meat and meat products. The aim of this study is to determine factors influencing consumers’ preferences towards traceability systems of meat and meat products in Malaysia. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire via face to face interview with 503 respondents in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and factor analysis. The findings of descriptive analysis showed that most of the consumers preferred using traceability systems and aware of its importance when buying meat and meat products. Meanwhile, the factor analysis results discovered six factors that influenced consumers’ preferences towards meat and meat products with traceability systems namely Halal certificate, transparency, quality, confidence, food safety and knowledge. Therefore, implementation of traceability systems could raise standards of food safety throughout the meat production supply chain. Furthermore, the society will become more confident and they can benefit from the quality of purchase and consumption. The findings from this study are also able to contribute to the body of knowledge to the producers or marketers towards food safety issues and foodborne illness that recently happened in Malaysia.
Interests in the nutraceutical or food supplement are growing around Asia in response to health and beauty concerns. Nutraceutical supplements seem to dominate the Malaysian market as the awareness of health conscious arise. The consumptions of these nutraceutical products are to cover insufficient nutrient in their diet intakes. Edible bird nest (EBN) is made from saliva produced by the male’s swiftlet and been consumed as a health supplement due to their high nutritional value. Despite an ever-growing number of EBN products and options available in the market, there are still fewer purchasers among Malaysian consumers as compared to other countries. This study aims to determine factors that influence consumers’ intention in purchasing EBN products. The number of complete response from the survey were 1310 samples. The questionnaire includes nine variables that are determined from the theory of planned behavior and marketing mix. Exploratory factor analysis with promax rotation is conducted to remove items with factor loading less than 0.5 and confirmatory factor analysis is constructed to measure the fitness of the model so that it can be used in predictive models. The three popular classification algorithms from predictive models which are decision tree, logistic regression, and artificial neural network will be used to analyze the dataset and determined the best model building. These comparisons are highly evaluated based on the prediction performance and it does not conclude that one method will be superior to other predictive methods. Results showed logistic regression outer perform other classifiers to develop the purchase intention model. There are five variables identified which consist of age, gender, price, accessibility and halal authorize. This study provides an input of consumers’ concern and interest that can be used as a strategic tool and give special attention to those elements to promote the EBN products.
Colour plays an important role in food especially in increasing the aesthetic value of food products. However, the increasing awareness on health implications of synthetic colourants has led to increased market for natural colourants. In this study, the retention of colourant from red beetroot powder in extruded rice flour containing 20% sago or tapioca starch was investigated. The moisture content of the rice flour-starch blends and 100% rice flour (control) was adjusted to 10% and the samples were extruded at 80ºC - 160ºC, with 120 rpm screw speed and 40 rpm feeder speed. The expansion, density, water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), hardness, crispness, colour, and betanin content of the extrudates were measured. The results showed that rice flour-sago starch extrudates (RSE) and rice flour-tapioca starch extrudate (RTE) had better expansion compared to the control (100% rice flour) extrudate. The expansion of RTE was not significantly different from that of RSE and no significant difference was found in the densities of these two extrudates. Presence of sago or tapioca starch decreased the WAI and increased the WSI of the extrudates. The WAI of RSE, however, did not differ significantly from that of RTE. The hardness (18.37 kg) and crispness (126.55 kg.sec) of the control extrudate were higher than that of the RSE (16.97 kg, 110.07 kg.sec) and RTE (14.84 kg, 92.77 kg.sec). There was no significant difference between the redness values of the extrudates. However, retention of betanin in the extrudates was highest in RTE (36.06% retention), followed by RSE (34.14%) and lowest in the control extrudate (27.82%). Addition of tapioca starch or sago starch can help to improve the physical and textural properties of betanin coloured rice extrudates with tapioca starch giving higher betanin retention.
Genetic variation in taste is one of the factors that influence taste perception. This study is carried out to ascertain whether CD36 gene variants and PROP taster status are associated with fatty taste sensitivity and perception among lean and obese individuals. A total of 103 obese and 77 lean subjects with mean age of 25.78 ± 5.65 years who took part in the study were classified into PROP nontasters, medium tasters, or supertasters by using the PROP filter paper screening procedure. The suprathreshold sensitivity for linoleic acid solutions and intensity towards two food products (‘Bubur Chacha’ and mango pudding) with different fat content was assessed using the general Labeled Magnitude Scales. The subjects were genotyped for CD36 gene variants (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs): rs1761667, rs152748 and rs1049673). It was observed that obese subjects were less sensitive toward fatty taste and gave a lower creaminess rating for the studied food products. Only one CD36 gene polymorphism i.e. rs1761677 and PROP taster status were associated with fat suprathreshold rating. Subjects with AA homozygous for rs1761667 and the supertaster perceived higher oiliness in linoleic acid solution. PROP supertaster significantly perceived higher creaminess in both the food products, but no association was observed between the creaminess rating and CD36 gene variant (rs1761667). All the CD36 gene variants and PROP taster status were not associated with obesity status. These findings indicated that even though the CD36 gene variant influences individuals’ oral fat sensitivity, PROP taster status plays a more dominant role in fat taste perception among obese and non-obese individuals.
As a staple food, the availability of rice is essential for Indonesian people. It is undoubtable that Green Revolution (GR) has a significant contribution to rice production. However, GR also emerges the detrimental impact, mainly on the environment. The expectation is that organic farming is an appropriate solution for dealing with this issue. On one side, the increased in demand for healthy food implies the organic farming has a good prospect. However, the adoption rate of organic farming is still low among farmers. This study aims at examining the perceptions of paddy farmer and factor affecting attitude and behavioral intention to adopt organic rice farming. This study involved 600 paddy farmers as respondents in Sragen District, Central Java, Indonesia. The study grouped the respondents into two categories, i.e., semi-organic and conventional farmers. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The results showed that the perceived usefulness, perceived ease, and environmental concern affected positive and significantly on attitude. Meanwhile, the behavioral intention was influenced significantly by attitude, subjective norm, moral obligation and perceived behavioral control. Conclusively, the perceptions on technology characteristic, environmental concern, moral obligation have a positive impact on attitude and intention to adopt organic rice farming. Therefore, the dissemination of organic rice technology should be accelerated to take the advantages of positive attitudes by changing their mindset toward adopting organic rice farming.
Food products contamination has become a huge global issue, mostly related to foodborne diseases. Morbidity and mortality are on the increase worldwide due to the increasing incidence of foodborne diseases. Peanut-based products are reported to contribute significantly to food contamination issues. It needs to be addressed well to make sure consumers are safe from these hazards. Besides, all of the scientific knowledge of food products contaminations symptoms needs to be known not only among scientists but also among consumers. Thus, the objectives of this study are to examine consumers’ knowledge level towards contaminated peanut-based products and to determine factors influencing consumers’ knowledge towards consuming contaminated peanut-based products. A survey using a structured questionnaire was carried out among 1,263 respondents who consumed peanut and peanut-based products in daily, weekly or monthly diet at Klang Valley area. The results from this study showed that about 73.9% of total respondents have inadequate knowledge and only 26.1% have adequate knowledge towards the issue of contaminated peanut-based products. The results also indicated that there are five factors (mass media, practicing standard, packaging information, experience, and official government website) that greatly influenced consumers’ knowledge towards the issue of contaminated peanut-based products. Consumers who have lack knowledge of the danger in consuming contaminated peanuts-based products are at risk of adverse health effects if consumed in a long term. Hence, the government and NGOs need to carry out campaigns that would increase awareness among consumers towards the risks of consuming contaminated peanut-based products.
Halal is an important aspect of food selection as it is one’s part to obey religious obligations and commandments. Since the halal food industry covers the farm-to-table operations, therefore unwanted practices which culminate to halal food fraud along food supply chain has become a major concern among Muslim consumers. This is because food fraud is a subjective concept, hence objective verification of fraudulent activities and the extent of fraud could be difficult to verify. The current study was therefore carried out to determine Muslim consumers’ awareness and perceptions towards halal food fraud. A total of 352 respondents from Klang Valley areas were randomly selected to be the target respondents in this study. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square analysis, and factor analysis. The results indicated that most of the respondents (96.9%) in Klang Valley areas were aware of halal food fraud issues. The findings also showed that gender, age, education level, and occupation had significant relationships with awareness of halal food fraud. Three factors were classified as influential to Muslim consumers’ perception towards halal food fraud namely halal logo, labeling and packaging, authorities’ exposure and enforcement as well as consumer attitude. The study recommended that Islamic authorities should continuously seek ways to improve and educate consumers towards halal food fraud while the government should further strengthen their important role of enforcing law and penalties to irresponsible industry players.
Ethyl lactate was demonstrated as a green and efficient agrochemical solvent to concentrate phytonutrients such as carotenes and tocols in palm oil. However, the removal of this solvent from the extract is difficult and expensive due to its very high boiling point and low volatility. Heating at high temperature in an effort to evaporate the solvent is undesirable even under reduced pressure as the extracted phytonutrients are heat-sensitive compounds. In this paper, a non-evaporative method using only water was proposed for the first time to remove the solvent at atmospheric conditions based on its solubility difference instead of the vapour pressure difference. The proposed method was proved to be more effective, faster and cheaper as compared to conventional approaches such as rotary evaporation, freeze drying and vacuum drying.
Banana is one of the most important food crops after rice, wheat and corn around the world. It is susceptible to a wide spectrum of non-infectious problems such as abiotic stresses resulting in restricting growth and production. Studies were conducted to determine the effects of four salinity levels (0.17 (control), 3.0, 6.0, and 9.0 dS m-1) on morphological characteristics of four banana cultivars at vegetative growth stage. Banana cultivars from the Cavendish group (Williams, Malindi) and plantains group (FHIA18 and Diwan) were grown in 61 x 76 cm polyethylene bags filled with soil mixture comprising of top soil, sand and peat moss (3:1:2 v/v), with pH ranging from 6 - 6.5 and EC 0.02 mScm-1. The experiment was carried out under a rain-shelter in split-plot design with three replicates. Plants were irrigated manually. Data were collected at 3, 6 and 9 months after transplanting. The results revealed that, the number of leaves, stem height, stem girth and total leaf area were significantly affected by salinity, variety and plant age. Significant interaction was also found between salinity and variety, salinity and plant age, as well as variety and plant age. The morphological characteristics of banana were negatively affected by higher salinity levels (6.0 and 9.0 dS m-1). Under similar salinity level, cultivar Malindi had higher number of leaves, stem height, stem girth and total leaf area as compared to cultivar Williams. Among plantains banana, cultivar FHIA18 was more tolerance to high salinity levels than Diwan cultivar, while Malindi from Cavendish group shows high salt tolerant than Williams. Therefore cultivars Malindi and FHIA18 could be grown in arid and semiarid environment depend on their tolerance to high salinity level above 1.0 dS m-1.
Tomatoes require appropriate environment to stay sturdy due to earlier decay process. Deterioration causes short shelf life of tomatoes with unfavourable quality, resulting in potential rejection by customers. The objective of the study is to observe the effect of combined coatings of chitosan (Ch) and cinnamic acid (CA) in extending the tomato shelf life. Layer by layer coating of chitosan prior to the cinnamic acid (single coating for each) were applied on fresh graded tomato at two maturity stages; breaker and turning. Twelve days observations at ambient temperature with three-day intervals were recorded. Combined coating of chitosan and cinnamic acid were expected to influence firmness, TSS value, hue angle and weight loss. Results showed that a combined coating of 1.0% Ch + 3 mM CA has significant increament at breaker stage to firmness (8.26 N), hue angle (60.42%) and weight loss value (6.51%) compared to untreated tomato whereas for turning stage, the results showed there were no significant different in all parameters observed except the changes of fruit sweetness (TSS). 1.0% Ch + 4 mM CA show highest TSS value, 3.48% indicating 21% difference than untreated tomato (3.27%). Cinnamic acid helped chitosan in improving coating ability by serving better barrier from pathogen and oxidative gas penetration to prevent earlier spoilage problem.
Volvariella volvacea (Family: Plutaceae), also more commonly known as paddy straw mushroom, is an edible mushroom with high nutritional content. It is usually cultivated using lignocellulosic-based materials for enhanced production. However, V. volvacea is highly perishable and easily deteriorates in terms of quality and appearance after harvest. The present paper thus aimed to provide a critical review on aspects related to the production of V. volvacea using palm oil empty fruit bunch as cultivation substrate. The different stages of V. volvacea development are also highlighted. The present review also provides some information on the preservation techniques and appropriate postharvest management in extending V. volvacea shelf life to further boost the paddy straw mushroom industry
Water kefir is the product of a brown sugar solution fermented with water kefir grains. To produce starter cultures for manufacturing commercial water kefir on an industrial scale, six lactic acid bacteria (LAB), three acetic acid bacteria (AAB), and two yeast strains have been isolated from local water kefir grains, and in vitro α-glucosidase inhibitory activity has been investigated. Five of the 11 isolates (LAB [K65, K9, K67], AAB [A5], and yeast [Y6]) showed high α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. They were then tested in an in vitro gastrointestinal tract tolerance test in which all demonstrated tolerance (40‒80% survival rate). These five strains, identified as Lactobacillus mali, Lactobacillus casei, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Gluconobacter hansenii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; were then used to ferment water kefir beverages. The storage stability of the fermented beverage products was analysed during 28 days of storage at 4°C by measuring α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, microbial cell viability, and microbial survival in the beverage treated with simulated gastric juice. The water kefir beverage sample containing both pumpkin purée and brown sugar fermented using all five strains (109 CFU/mL LAB strains, 107 CFU/mL yeast strain, and 106 CFU/mL AAB strain) was the most suitable formulation because it achieved >50% α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and microbial survival rates of 106‒1010 CFU/mL viable LAB cells, 106‒107 CFU/mL viable AAB cells, and 105‒108 CFU/mL viable yeast cells during storage. Therefore, these five strains have potential to act as starters in the formulation of water kefir, which is an anti-hyperglycaemic beverage that can be used to manage type-2 diabetes mellitus.
Collagen from shortfin scad (Decapterus macrosoma) bone was extracted using varying concentrations of acetic acid. Yields of extracted collagen were 1.01 ± 0.09% and 1.31 ± 0.07% for 0.5 M and 0.7 M acetic acids, respectively. The pH values of commercial collagen and shortfin scad bone collagen extracted using acetic acids (0.5 M and 0.7 M) were 6.52 ± 0.03, 4.99 ± 0.04, and 5.32 ± 0.01, respectively. The functional group analysis for collagen showed that the Amide A, Amide II and Amide III bands have been detected. The microstructure study showed that the isolated collagen had a porous fibril network. Maximum solubility for the commercial collagen was observed at pH 3, while the collagens extracted with 0.5 M and 0.7 M acetic acids were similar at pH 8. Meanwhile, the relative viscosities for all collagens indicated increasing values with increasing temperatures. In conclusion, the shortfin scad bone collagen showed potential for use as an alternative collagen. Although the values for shortfin scad bone collagen extracted by 0.5 M and 0.7 M acetic acids were lower than the commercial one, the collagens exhibited similar properties.
SHAKE Technical Package outlines the policies and interventions in reducing population salt intake which includes five overarching elements needed to create a successful salt reduction programme followed by the five elements of the SHAKE Package for salt reduction that consist of (1) surveillance, (2) harness the industry, (3) adopt the standards for labelling and marketing, (4) knowledge, and (5) environment. The aim for the present work was to critically review the documents related to the dietary sodium reduction strategies in Malaysia as compared to the SHAKE Technical Package. This review involves online and physical document searches of documents related to dietary sodium reduction within the Ministry of Health Malaysia. Visits to each related department via a liaison officer were done for clarification about the documents. Data was sorted according to the SHAKE Framework and a SWOT analysis was done. A total of 32 documents related to salt reduction policies and 15 health education materials were identified. Malaysia’s salt reduction policies comply to four out of five overarching elements of a successful salt reduction program with the presence of political commitment, dedicated programme leadership and governance, partnership with other ministries and stakeholders and integration with iodine deficiency elimination programme. For the SHAKE Package, Malaysia’s policies comply with all the five SHAKE Package elements. However, further investigation revealed that the food products involved in the food reformulation programme were limited. The SWOT analysis revealed that Malaysia has developed a specific plan for a national salt reduction strategy by producing its own Salt Reduction Strategy to Prevent and Control Non-Communicable Diseases for Malaysia Guidelines 2015-2020. Currently, there is no comprehensive database on the salt content of processed foods in Malaysia mainly due to the absence of mandatory labelling for sodium content in processed foods, which is a significant threat to the implementation of salt reduction initiative in the country. Pro-active non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups advocating salt reduction in the community is needed to place salt high on the political and developmental agenda Salt reduction strategy as a policy in Malaysia includes almost all recommendations in the SHAKE Framework Malaysia. However, it is still in its early stage.