- 5 months ago
Rising food taxes and living costs are changing how Malaysian families eat, with the expanded 5% SST now taxing essential staples like fruits, fish, legumes, dairy, and oils. As grocery bills soar and food insecurity deepens—especially among B40 and M40 groups—Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s RM100 universal cash aid aims to ease the burden. Dr. Salini Devi Rajendran from Taylor’s Culinary Institute joins the conversation to explore how policy, pricing, and culinary education intersect to address Malaysia’s dual burden of malnutrition and obesity.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me, Tamina Kaosji.
00:11Nyaga Spotlight takes us through the week in economic analysis and future affairs.
00:16Now this week on future affairs, we are spotlighting the cost of eating, affordability versus nutrition.
00:22Now, rising food taxes and living costs are reshaping what and how Malaysian families eat.
00:30Since the 1st of July, the new expanded 5% SST now also applies to staples like fruits, fish, legumes, dairy and cooking oil,
00:39which also bites into already tied B40 and also M40 budgets.
00:43Now this week also, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced Malaysia's first ever universal 100 ringgit cash aid per adult
00:51disbursed from the 31st of August to the 31st of December 2025, redeemable at over 4,100 outlets,
00:59including Maiden, Lotuses, Econ Save, as well as selected sundry shops across districts nationwide.
01:05Now meanwhile, the World Health Organization, the WHO, ranks Malaysia as having one of the highest childhood obesity rates
01:12in Southeast Asia, with the prevalence of childhood overweight, obesity and excess weight in Malaysia
01:18almost doubling over a 26-year period from 1996 to 2022.
01:23A dual burden of too much as well as too little food, with nutrition being a key concern.
01:30So joining me to explore how policy, price and plate intersects today is Dr. Salini Devi Rajendran,
01:36Senior Lecturer with the Taylor's Culinary Institute at Taylor's University.
01:41We dig into this very interesting conversation at this very timely moment.
01:46A very good morning, Dr. Salini. How are you doing today?
01:49Thank you. So I'm fine. And thank you for inviting me for this very timely topic.
01:54Yes, absolutely. So Dr. Salini, as a culinary academic, the work that you do, of course,
01:59intersects very interestingly with all of these issues all at once.
02:04Also, of course, in your capacity as a lecturer. So how do you then reconcile the 5% introduction
02:10of SST on staples? Of course, there have been exceptions, but quite broadly, it also impacts
02:15fruits, legumes, fish, dairy, and all of these are nutritious food choices.
02:21And at the same time, Malaysia also has rising non-communicable disease, those NCD rates.
02:27Your thoughts on this?
02:29Right. As a culinary academic, and we work very closely with three major components,
02:36that's food, health, and policy. And we look, these three major components intersect each
02:43and another.
02:44That's right.
02:44So with this 5% of SST expansion, it's quite worrying, and it's considered as a serious concern,
02:51and not just from the economically standpoint, but also the public health.
02:56And what happens with these low-income families or households, especially the B40s,
03:03they are among the most affected with the high living costs, limited income,
03:11where they are juggling between the family responsibility, they have to work additional,
03:17like two to three jobs to support the family.
03:19This is where the gap happens.
03:24Exactly.
03:25This creates a gap between what is affordable and what's nutrition.
03:30Correct. And I think another interesting data point that we have most recently is that
03:35Malaysia actually carries the highest grocery bill across Southeast Asian countries,
03:41coming up to, on average, RM9,000 per household per year,
03:45while wages are also remaining fairly stagnant.
03:49So to follow up on that, Dr. Salini, so at the same time, given that most adults in Malaysia
03:54still consume fewer than our recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily,
04:01how do we then not only shift behaviour, but an overall system,
04:08which of course means those from underserved communities already have less time
04:13and also less money for nutritious food purchases.
04:16That's absolutely true, because studies already claim and prove that Malaysians do not eat the recommended portion.
04:25I think we are all very familiar with the term of suku-suku-suparo.
04:30Exactly. I think that's inside our brain, right?
04:32Yes, one quarter, one quarter and a half.
04:34Yes.
04:34It's a Malaysian plate concept, but it's not ideal for everyone to follow this guideline
04:41with the time constraints, with the higher price, especially.
04:49Price is a major barrier, but beyond that, for example, like the time, right?
04:57Time factor, right?
04:58Time factor, the lifestyle where they are busy.
05:01Usually, it's more on grab-and-go culture.
05:04What is easy for them to grab?
05:07What is feeling?
05:08What is so convenient for them to have at that time, right?
05:11So the eating behaviour changes among the people, right?
05:15They do not have a proper meal plan, proper meal intake, right?
05:20Their food choices are affected.
05:21So we can look from economic, social, as well as environment factors.
05:26Right.
05:26And actually, the environmental factors perhaps of late, maybe just the past five or six years,
05:33have increasingly been playing a huger role, right?
05:36Yes.
05:37When it comes to behaviours.
05:38So interestingly enough, B40 as well as lower M40 families are shown to spend anywhere between 14% to up to 19% of their incomes just on food alone.
05:49But they're priced out of the healthier options.
05:52So let's speak about food behavioural culture a little deeper.
05:57So how can culinary education hopefully close the existing gap between access and also aspiration?
06:07Because quite often what appears attractive as a food choice may not necessarily be nutritious, right?
06:14Yes, true.
06:15So when it comes to culinary education, right?
06:17So we are trying to help bridge the gap between the aspiration and reality by equipping the people with the right knowledge, practical cooking skills.
06:29So we need to break the myth, first of all.
06:32Okay.
06:33What's the biggest myth for you?
06:34Healthy eating is not always expensive.
06:36So the truth is you can eat healthy with your minimal ingredients, with the resources that we have.
06:43So we always have a mindset that, okay, eating healthy is a luxury or pricey.
06:50And we try to forget that actually we have enough resources to make our food healthy on our plate.
06:57Right.
06:58And when it comes to the type of education which is happening, perhaps do you think that the way in which universities with culinary institutes such as Taylor's,
07:08what role have they also been playing in sort of advocating and ensuring the message goes out there?
07:14Okay.
07:15We are one of the leading voice in food studies and gastronomy.
07:19And we engage with a lot of community impact projects.
07:23Right.
07:24And we really see the real transformation among these vulnerable groups like the low-income families as well the B40 families.
07:34And I can share one of the projects that we have done and it's still ongoing.
07:40Sure.
07:41But this is more focused on the children with the Nourish U program.
07:46So we try to educate the parents, the teachers how to make healthy food for their children.
07:53Right.
07:53So when this community outreach occurs, if you wouldn't mind to perhaps walk me through, what kind of numbers are you usually looking at for such programs,
08:03especially the ones which are currently still ongoing?
08:08I mean, we engage and collaborate with industry partners.
08:13Right.
08:13Then we have NGOs that work closely and support our academic community collaboration.
08:19So usually it's like an intervention program where they will come to our institute and we as an academic, we will share our knowledge.
08:30We will provide them with hands-on training, practicals, and then we will do thorough monitoring to help them.
08:38Even we have seen some of them have started their own business with the minimum resources that they have with a small cash aid that we have provided.
08:51And now they are sustained with their lifestyle.
08:53Exactly.
08:54Because then it provides people with the resources, but also to continue on for sustainability.
08:59So we continue with the monitoring.
09:01Interesting.
09:02And now I think perhaps it's time for us to look a little deeper at the fact that Malaysia, of course, and I think anybody would say this as the most obvious thing,
09:13we're very food rich, but perhaps nutrition poor.
09:16So how do we close that gap, Dr. Salini?
09:19Are we basically unable to teach the appropriate cooking skills or is it more a factor of nutritious food being less affordable?
09:29Definitely Malaysia is considered as a food paradise.
09:33You can get food anytime, anywhere.
09:36So we have like 24 hours fast food, we have kopi tiang, we have mamaks, where people really love to spend their time to get the food and hang out there.
09:48But again, food rich doesn't promise nutrition rich.
09:53So if you really zoom into the type of food that really can get it from all this type of outlets that I have mentioned just now,
10:03it's either it's a high fat, high salty, sugary.
10:08So it creates a culture where people consume unhealthy foods more rather than nutrition rich food.
10:17Right.
10:17And this drive to the NCD, like hypertension, blood pressure, and all those heart disease and diabetes.
10:28And these are among the fastest and rising health issues.
10:32So on top of that also, just to add on, we are also double burden.
10:38It means that undernutrition, stunting among the children, obesity, it's all again because of this poor diet.
10:45Correct, exactly.
10:47And the more interesting thing is also the fact that this is not only unique to Malaysia,
10:52but globally we are also seeing ultra-processed foods, they dominate,
10:56mostly because the cost is driven down, there's a lot of advertising that helps to promote it,
11:03and it leads to a little bit of a vicious cycle, right?
11:06So ideally speaking then, Dr. Salini,
11:08So if you were to design a Malaysian plate for, let's say, a single parent household,
11:15perhaps a single mother, on a minimum wage today,
11:18and you had to include cost, nutrition, as well as the time factor required,
11:23and of course, preparing for a meal, what would that most likely look like?
11:28Yeah, when we want to focus more on single mom or working mom,
11:32so it's become a part of our daily life to prepare healthy food for the family members.
11:38At the same time, we are juggled between work and our responsibility.
11:41So what we can do within the shorter time,
11:45basically we can prepare simple meal, right,
11:48which includes like minimum cost, but healthy.
11:53So what we can do right now is fully utilize the local ingredients.
12:00Right, more local ingredients.
12:01More local ingredients on your cooking.
12:04You plan your meal, right?
12:06Okay, for example, you can substitute meat with more to plant proteins,
12:11like tempeh, tofu.
12:13You can cook this in a stew, and you can stretch to all over meals.
12:18Understood.
12:19All right.
12:20And next, zero-wasting cooking.
12:22Okay, and what would that look like for a Malaysian kitchen?
12:27When we say zero-wasting cooking, we don't waste anything,
12:29even the peels of the vegetables.
12:31You can use to make it stock or use these peels in your soup
12:36and make it as a broth and to add on more flavors.
12:40And what to go more with the trend,
12:43where maybe the children preferences, leftover rice.
12:47You can add on with some shredded vegetables, eggs,
12:53and make it as a patties of rice.
12:56So you're not wasting or throwing away your leftover rice.
12:59Or you can make a simple nasi goreng.
13:01Right, exactly.
13:02So it's clearly looking at the fact that to stretch the budget,
13:07culinary innovation or creativity is actually going to be just as important.
13:12Because the fact of the matter remains, fruits, meats, vegetables,
13:16they currently actually are costing anywhere up to even two times more than starches.
13:23Right?
13:24So the challenge really is balancing for that healthy, nutritious plate.
13:29And in communities that you have actually worked on outreach projects with,
13:33how long does it take perhaps out of curiosity for such behavior to become a habit?
13:43The project actually for one year.
13:45Right.
13:46Okay.
13:46So that's a sufficient amount of time.
13:48So a sufficient amount of time where we divided it into three phases.
13:51Phase one, more in terms of recruiting the right participant for our program.
13:56And then second phase is more on the implementation where we conduct trainings as well,
14:02hands-on workshops for them for, I think, nearly three to four months.
14:07And the final phase is more in terms of the monitoring,
14:11where they have to apply the knowledge that we have shared with them.
14:15Understood.
14:15So it's not that, okay, once you come for the workshop with us,
14:19then that's it, the end.
14:20No.
14:21They have to practice, apply it in their daily life.
14:24And we play the role to monitor on them.
14:27We give the consultation, feedbacks, how to do improvised.
14:32And to be very happy to share that they have improved with the additional income
14:39that they can generate through our programs, community impact.
14:42So it's really real transformation.
14:44Understood.
14:44Thank you very much, Dr. Salini, for the conversation so far.
14:47We take a short break.
14:48Don't go anywhere.
14:49We'll be right back with Nyaka Spotlight.
14:51Welcome back to Nyaka Spotlight.
15:08Still with me, Tamina Kausji.
15:10And, of course, today we are talking about the cost of eating,
15:13affordability versus nutrition with Dr. Salini Devi Rajendran,
15:16senior lecturer with Taylor's Culinary Institute, Taylor's University.
15:19Dr. Salini, going straight back into the conversation.
15:23So tell me a little more around your thoughts about how institutions
15:27like, of course, Taylor's Culinary are taking a more active role
15:31in influencing looking at national food policy.
15:34Because ultimately, this discussion truly is about realigning systems
15:39to suit the needs of the right yard, right?
15:42We engage strongly with research.
15:46We do a lot of research from areas such as food system, food security,
15:54the supply chain, food studies covering more from the gastronomy perspective as well.
16:01And we share the findings and insights of our research outcomes
16:06through research publication as well with the media for the public's knowledge.
16:13And we have impact labs, right, where this impact labs carries projects
16:19that can contribute to the community directly, like what I have shared earlier.
16:24That's right.
16:24And beyond that, we also strongly work with industry partners, right?
16:31For example, like how to turn food waste into edible innovation.
16:36So we strongly work with all this innovative to reduce the food waste,
16:41to bring it new food on the plate, it's more creativity works and so on.
16:46And to make it more realistic in our teaching, we have urban farm in our campus.
16:53Understood.
16:53Because then the students also get that hands-on perspective.
16:56Hands-on perspective.
16:57So how this urban farm works.
17:00So it's from farm to fork.
17:02So these culinary students, they will harvest from our urban farm
17:06and they use those produce to be cooked.
17:10Understood.
17:11So that's basically looking at how the system can actually provide
17:15for a more nutritious plate.
17:17Yes.
17:17And apart from that, the urban farm's vegetables also promote
17:23and sell to our staff and students for their daily consumption.
17:27Oh, that's amazing.
17:28And I think it's also a nice perspective to integrate with the fact that,
17:32for example, in the UK, a parallel to look at perhaps would be
17:36chef-led advocacy by Jamie Oliver's campaigns,
17:40which actually help to push for sugar taxes and even a healthier school food.
17:46So coming into, of course, because you mentioned students and on campus,
17:50so let's look at food on campus as well as food security.
17:55And now various studies are also starting to indicate that undergraduates
17:59and students at universities around Malaysia actually suffer from anywhere
18:05between 22 to up to even 70% food insecurity.
18:10So tell us a little bit more about the type of role which universities can also play
18:15in modelling our nutritious, budget-friendly food systems.
18:20So in university, we don't just feed the students,
18:24but we also help to build and shape the food culture.
18:29Right.
18:29Yes, that's very important.
18:30So what kind of pointers do you feel have been helpful in the Taylor's experience at least
18:35for building that food culture?
18:37Food culture.
18:38All right.
18:39We diversify the food options.
18:42Right.
18:42So we try to have more cafes, retail outlets, which can provide healthy and nutrition type of food.
18:50Instead, giving more towards instant, ready-to-eat processed foods.
18:57So we try to have more healthy cafes.
19:02And even from our urban farm, I mean, we directly use to sell it to our own cafes,
19:09where it comes like a salad bowl and fruits and everything for our students.
19:15So we try to promote even like healthy types of food during our event.
19:19Understood.
19:20Because ultimately, it's not only about how it affects physical health.
19:25There's also impacts on mental health and also even academic performance.
19:30Yes.
19:30So looking at the fact that, of course, from the private sector,
19:35universities have the resources quite often and also the interest in active citizenry
19:41and building the future for the students.
19:43When it comes to the public sector, universities also, what may be simple sort of parameters
19:51could they go ahead with so that students from public universities also can be covered
19:56by such initiatives?
19:57From my standpoint, I think either it's a public universities or private universities,
20:05we are working closely towards the national agenda that is food security, food systems
20:10and everything.
20:11So we have our efforts.
20:15And when we say efforts, it should be a collective.
20:18I mean, we can't look in a very silo.
20:20It should come from different actors with the support of the government.
20:25And for example, they can offer like a food vouchers, food vouchers for the students so that
20:32they can eat without any stigma.
20:35They're able to spend the money to buy the foods like more healthiest without thinking
20:43about the price, for example.
20:45Exactly.
20:46And there is actually a regional example that points to this.
20:50In Japan, they actually have a 100 yen student lunch model, which offers a viable template
20:56for affordable, nutritious university level meals.
21:00So let's shift the conversation a little wider now.
21:03Now, of course, as we mentioned earlier, Malaysia has an extremely vibrant food culture.
21:08Now, part of that food culture are also chefs, food creators, those who have a lot of influence
21:14online as well, right?
21:16So what kind of culinary professionals and influencers, what can they do to perhaps shift
21:21public perception and food trends?
21:24Now that, of course, is becoming more pricier to dine outside.
21:29So it's quite likely there's going to be a bigger shift towards preparing your own meals
21:34at home.
21:35So this is where the culinary professionals and the influencers should take step in to
21:42influence the young generation, especially as well, the adults, right, where they try to
21:50normalise local ingredients in like, for example, in a live cooking shows, in preparing the
21:57recipes, demos, right, even the public events, promote more on healthy foods, right, using the
22:06local ingredients.
22:06I think this is also one of the, announced by our Prime Minister that more encouraged on local foods.
22:14Yes, hyper-local ingredients.
22:16So when it comes to influencers, why not they try to show in a more creative way how they
22:25can work on, in a very creative way or innovative way, all right, to prepare a food with local ingredients.
22:34One of the examples is like ulam wrap, all right?
22:37We know that wrap is more on Western culture, right?
22:40But we can still make it more fusion, affordable, why not you substitute the litius with ulam
22:47or pagaga.
22:49Which also has a host of health benefits.
22:51Yes.
22:52So it's still rich with antioxidant and minimal cost and you still can enjoy this wrap.
22:59Exactly.
23:00Localised flavours but also making that more and more normalised.
23:03More and more normalised.
23:04So when healthy eating becomes easy, it will become a daily habit.
23:09And people will normalise it.
23:12Exactly.
23:13And every bit matters because influence continues on, particularly in the digital arena.
23:18So let's end out our conversation, though, Dr. Salini, by looking a little bit deeper
23:22at the RM100 universal cash allocation, which is going to be rolling out very soon,
23:29by the end of this month until 31st of December.
23:32So it's unprecedented.
23:34But at the same time, let's look at how it could, on one hand, improve or also limit food
23:41affordability and nutrition equity.
23:45It's a mixed reaction and feedback.
23:48But again, in this context, it's a very welcoming move at the first step, especially those who
23:57really need.
23:58So it is a small amount, but it can give a big impact.
24:02So if the people plan well, they can actually get groceries, sufficient groceries for this RM100
24:12and it can relieve a short-term burden for this family.
24:18So it's all back to how well the family members or the individual plan to utilise this in a very
24:26wisely way.
24:27Exactly.
24:28So also it's about the fact that we perhaps can look now then, on a policy level, nutrition
24:34guidance or even purchasing incentives around more nutritious options, because that perhaps
24:41can help influence future consumer choice, right?
24:44Because I was actually referring back to the example you shared about the community outreach
24:48efforts, where there needs to also be a three to four month monitoring period to see whether
24:54the habits around food choices stick.
25:00Yes, true.
25:01So we can't make a conclusion with a very short term, but a monitoring system is required
25:08to understand better about this purchasing pattern or the behaviour from the people with
25:13the financial aid that are being provided.
25:16Exactly.
25:16And there's also an opportunity here to actually no need to spend any further monies around it,
25:21but all the outlets which have been earmarked for these purchases can already collect this
25:26data.
25:27Yes.
25:27And the data will be of value when it can be analysed.
25:30Yes, true.
25:31Right.
25:32So perhaps to move out of the conversation into let's looking at a whole of government
25:38approach.
25:39Tell me a little bit more about your closing thoughts around this, when basically what we
25:45actually need is to not work in silos, but collaborations across all relevant ministries, as well as our
25:53stakeholders.
25:54Yes.
25:54So when it comes to the food security, it refers to equal access.
26:00Right.
26:01Equal access to everyone.
26:03They need to be affordable and the food must be available so that each one of us can have
26:10a sufficient food for the livings.
26:14And this is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 3, good health and well-being.
26:20So our system, the food system dimension, need to be very systematic in order to allow people
26:27to eat, to access, to make healthy eating as a choice, not a difficult one.
26:34So the option needs to be on the plate.
26:38On the plate.
26:39So price it right, sell it at the right place, and definitely people will make it as a habit
26:45to normalise their daily routines.
26:48Exactly.
26:50And I think particularly important would be intervention at an early age, because also
26:55we are having data which is showing that about over 20% of Malaysian children under five
27:01are actually suffering stunting.
27:04And stunting, of course, once again, disproportionately impacts lower-income households.
27:10What would you have as perhaps one last parting thought on how to manage this on an immediate
27:17basis, looking at stunting amongst children who are growing, but also the fact that children
27:21grow daily, so there's no time to waste?
27:24Okay.
27:25So now the matter is, it's not eating less or eating more.
27:28You must know how to eat right.
27:30So make your plate balanced, moderate, and variety.
27:36With the minimal ingredients, cost efficiency, we can do a lot.
27:41So if you know how to do it, especially with the culinary skills, and there are a lot of
27:46ways for us to access this information, YouTube, recipe books, blogs, with all those influences,
27:55reels on social medias, I think there are ways for people to change the habit.
28:00That's right.
28:01Dr. Salani, thank you so much for the conversation in so far.
28:04Now, this discussion is a reality check that food is never just about food, it's about policy
28:09and ultimately deeply personal.
28:11Rethinking Malaysia's food system requires not just government intervention and universal
28:15cash handouts, but data collection, re-education, and advocacy from kitchen to classroom.
28:20Until we confront the structural cost-defeating well, we risk baking inequality into every
28:26meal.
28:27Well, lots to chew on, and that's all we have time for today on Niagara Spotlight.
28:31We'll see you again next week with more economic analysis and insights.
28:34Here's to a productive week ahead.
28:36Transcription by ESO. Translation by ESO. Translation by ESO. Translation by —
Be the first to comment