# Food Wastage # Hunger #

I was joined the Malaysia Studies class on last Monday.

The lecturer showed us a video about food wastage and the consequence of food wastage.

The video is touching my heart because there are showing the hunger kids ate the food that we thrown in the trash. So I decide to write this topic about food wastage and hunger.

Malaysia is a food heaven because there are three races peoples which are Chinese, Malay and India live in Malaysia.

Malaysia has a lot of famous and delicious foods such as Nasi Lemak, Asam Laksa, Prawn Mee, Chay Keow Teow, Bak Kut Teh(non-halal) and etc.

However, Malaysian think that taking food availability for granted because here has a lot of foods. Nowadays, Malaysia become one of the giant food dump in the world.

Malaysian love food but people always cannot finish the food that they order or cooked. Malaysian did not realise food wastage is relate to the social ethics.

 

Malaysian do not realise the influence of food wastage in everyday. Some of them might know the influence, but some of them do not know the influence. It is because Malaysia government did not facing and come out the idea to settle the problem of food wastage. In the result of Hunger Relief Organizations, there are total number of children that die every year from hunger is 1.5 million. It means the time between deaths of people who die from hunger is each 3.6 seconds.

 

There are some information that I found in Internet. In the survey conducted by CAP in several restaurants in Penang, the owners of the restaurants revealed that about 5% to 10% of cooked unsold food thrown away each day. At the same time, the percentage of food ordered by customers and not finished eaten which ends as waste is 10%.

CAP interviewed about 10 restaurant owners regarding food wastage.  Some of the restaurant owners who also provide catering services admit that 15% to 20% of food served during festivals, buffet, wedding celebration, birthday parties and gatherings are thrown because of poor planning and poor turn up for the event.  Malaysians too have the habit of piling their plate with food and eventually not finish eating what they have piled.  This shows their sheer greed for food.

As I know, there are more than 1000 hotel build in Malaysia. Hotel is the place that people likes to organises gathering, meeting, conferences meeting or wedding.

While organising an events, it will serve the lunch buffet or dinner buffet or refreshment to the customers.

I think Chinese wedding is the most wasted food event that occur in the hotel.

Normally the table setting of Chinese wedding is 10 guests seat on a big round table, and the wedding will serve around 9 to 10 dishes per table.

I went to many Chinese wedding before, properly the guests cannot finish all the foods because the potion of the foods are too big.

I saw some of the guests might take away the foods that cannot finish in the wedding because they do not want to waste food, but some of the guests are concern their face problem so they did not take away the foods.

Actually there are other reasons that concern the guests do not want to take away the foods. Maybe is the food taste is bad or maybe is the guest family does not have family members to finish the left foods although they take away the food. There are different reasons to wastage food. Peoples do not know the foods that thrown are important to other hunger peoples.

As we know the goal of every hotel is earning profit but food wastage also one of the social responsibility for hotels and the guests who organises the event.

I am sure hotel has the responsibility and ethical to solve those problems.

In my own opinion, there are few way to solve the problems of hotel food wastage.

Firstly, I suggest hotel come out a menu package of controlling the food wastage to the customers. Hotel might giving a lower discount to promote and encourage customers to take the package. Nowadays, people like discount when they know hotel provide package with discount for them.

Hotel has the responsibility to recommend and persuade the customers do not waste the food.

If the customer accept the package of deduce food wastage, the hotel will increase the reputation at the same time because people knows the hotel has the concern on the food wastage problem.

Secondly, I suggest hotel to let the employees take away the food that remain by the customer. This is one of the strategy deduce food wastage and also can encourage the employees work hard in the hotel.

However, there are not only hotels have the problem of food wastage. We have many shopping centre located in the city such as Pavilion, Mid Valley, One Utama and etc. There have many restaurants opened in the shopping centre. Peoples like to shop, they would like to spend the whole day in the shopping mall, especially on weekends. Customers expect the restaurants provide every food and beverage are fresh, so the restaurants are easier to sold out the products at the weekends but not the weekdays.

Normally there are less people go shopping mall on the weekdays because everyone have to work. So the restaurant will left a lot of unsold food and throw it. Some of the company might let the employees take away the unsold food, but some of them might not. It is because some of the company think that the unsold foods are the assets of company, so employee cannot take away those unsold foods because it are company assets.

For solve the problem of food wastage, Malaysia government and education industry have to educate Malaysians not wasting food. There are few international events are organises in every year such as Korean half bowl half rice activity, global 40 hours famine event and etc.

The Korean half bowl half rice activity is encourage people do not waste rice because peoples like to order a big bowl of rice, but they always cannot finish it. It is a good activity to maintain health of human and a way to control food wastage.

The founder of global 40 hours famine event is Canada in 1971. Actually different country has the different level of hours to organise the event such as UK and South Korea hold on 24 hours, Hong Kong hold on 8 hours, and etc. We holding 30 hours famine in Malaysia.

Properly we having the hunger 30 hours famine event in every august. The aim of the event is fight with the hunger to let the participants know the feeling of hunger. In addition, the event will play some video or give a talk about the food wastage and the fact situation of poor country such as Indian. These activities are giving the participants realise the severity of food wastage.

In conclusion, I strongly disagree food wastage. It is related to personal ethics. When we want to request others start to avoid food wastage, firstly we have to start it by ourselves. One person power is too small, but gather all the peoples power will become bigger and stronger. Let's avoid food wastage and encourage your friends and family do it together!

                                         Figure1: Food Wastage

                                          Figure2: Food Wastage2

                                          Figure3: Hunger 30 Hours Famine

#Premarital Sexual Behavior#Right#Wrong#

I am just started a new semester at Berjaya University College Hospitality (Berjaya UCH) and it is my fifth semester.

I am taking five subjects and one of the subject is Contempory Ethics and Cooperate Citizenship.

Before I join the ethics class, my imagination of ethics is we have to memories a lot of theory about ethics such as do not throw rubbish on the floor or do not burn any rubbish contaminate the environment. However, I missed the first class of ethics.

When I join the second class of ethics, I just realise ethics is more about discussion with other classmates and lecturer. Lecturer would not giving you accurate answer as right or wrong.

It is because different people has different perception to the specific topic.

It is an interesting class that I can observe different peoples have difference ideas coming out when the lecturer asking some questions.

I just finish holidays and start a new semester, many college friends went for travel in their holidays.

One of my friend went to Taiwan and he gave me a condom as souvenir.

The condom let me notice a topic about premarital sexual behaviour.

Nowadays, premarital sexual is very common in the social, even though premarital sexual is not acceptable in some country, such as Malaysia.

It is because Malaysia is a Islam country that have conservatism behaviour.

Some people said can have premarital sexual but it must be a safe sex with condom.

The question is, it that really acceptable to have premarital sexual between the couple?

The common story in the real life is couple have premarital sexual without safely measures, the girl accidently pregnant and the couple have to married because of the baby. After married, the couples start to work hard earn money for the baby. However, the couples will start to argue with any issues because they feel other side is very annoying and is not the gradually deduce the true love from other side. It is because the main reason they argue is their baby. At the end, they choose to divorce because they do not like other side. In this situation, the biggest victims is the baby. The baby have to face that he or she is born in a broken family and might have a bad childhood.

Let's listen a story! It is a real story from my high school friend.

I was studied in Kuen Cheng Girl's High School, so I have many female friends in my life.

I still remember one day of six year ago, I received a wedding invitation card from my high school friend, she was going to married!

I cannot believe the girl that same age with me going to marry, she was just 19 years old! On that moment, my other friends realise the reason that the girl going to marry because she was pregnant. 2years later, as I mentioned in the upper part, my friend divorce with her husband because of they have many argument and unhappiness.

When I heard this case, I started to thinking about the situation of my high school friend. Does she think about the outcome of having premarital sexual? The outcome might have a baby after premarital sexual. How if the husband knows she was pregnant but do not want to be held responsible to her? The further and future question is does the couples economics can afford any fees for the children such as milk powder or education fees? How if the couples are unemployed persons?

Normally, people knows their cannot afford the baby educated fees but they still consider to born the baby. It is because they have the basic compassion. I know the basic compassion is very important to human, suppose before the couples have to think about the outcome of premarital sexual.

In addition, one of the fact might be happen is the couples cannot afford the economic crisis for the baby, so they might decide abandon baby on the roadside or orphanage or public area. The more serious cases are the couples might sell or kill their own baby because they do not want to held on responsible.

In another case, if the couples have economics crisis or other issues that cannot let people know their have baby, they will dumping baby. However, baby dumping is a social crisis and has a chronic increase as many cases are occurring in Malaysian society. The baby dumping refers to discarding or leaving alone, for an extended period of time, a child younger than 12 months of age in a public or private setting with the intent to dispose of the child. Based on Bukit Aman Police Headquarters statistics found a total of 580 babies were found dumped between year 2000 to 2006. This number of cases increase every year where as much as 65 baby dumping cases has increased to 83 cases in the year 2006.

Although these are all imagination questions but is really related to premarital sexual. WHY peoples still want to have premarital sexual before married without any safety measure? It shows the couples do not have the personal responsibility. In my opinion, I am strongly disagree premarital sexual behaviour. It is unethical to personal, the baby and the society. Actually premarital sex is forbidden in Malaysia because there are an ISLAM country. If get catch in Malaysia will get the penalties including up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 5,000 ringgit, or six strokes of the cane. It is a serious penalty law in Malaysia.

My recommend to those couple who really need the premarital sexual, please use condom. It is because condom can help the society to reduce baby and avoid sad case happen.  The words that I really like is "Having sex after marriage is safer and it can reduce the abortion and baby dumping rate. It also helps us be more responsible and not to have sex just to satisfy our lust." Be an ethics person, because you have the personal responsibility to yourself and the society.

 

*The condom as souvenir form TAIWAN. Safe sex. :)

*Baby Dumping. Please care every life especially the babies. Cheers!