Food technology and challenges during pandemic of Covid-19: A case study from flavorista (M) Sdn. Bhd.

Abstract

The emergence of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has created a tremendous global strain due to the rising number of infected cases. The pandemic has been regarded as a global vertical conflict due to the interrelated impacts of the pandemic on numerous sectors. The ultimate goal of the governments is to safeguard citizens from this pandemic, and almost the whole nation is locked down to avoid the spread of this disease. This lockdown or called as Movement Control Order (MCO) has had a huge effect both on the global and the local economy, with business cannot operate normally. This pandemic impacts the health sector the most, followed by the economic sector. Equally important, the food and beverage (F&B) industry as the sub-sector of the economy is also deeply affected by the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic due to several underlying factors. This study which was done as a combination of case study and observation from food operator's perspective to recognize potential impacts and challenges faced by the F&B sectors in Malaysia during and after an MCO, as well as the potential food technology as a solution to solve the issues caused by this pandemic. The pandemic has generated significant impacts on the F&B industry including loss of revenue, additional expenses, and poor economic outlook. All sectors in the F&B industry are struggling financially to sustain their business operations during and even after the pandemic of COVID-19. Challenges such as rising food costs, labor, and logistics issues, and adaption to digitization have been faced by the F&B industry due to the coupled impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0). Experts said that economic revival would be a major challenge to the F&B sector but the advancement of food technologies can be a light of hope for the F&B industry to be adaptive to the new norm caused by the pandemic and be ready to rise again.