Abstract

The expansion of online homemade food businesses in Malaysia has transformed the food landscape by enabling household‑based entrepreneurship, while simultaneously raising complex food safety and governance challenges. These home‑based food businesses often operate informally and outside established regulatory systems, creating vulnerabilities related to business registration, traceability, and adherence to food safety standards. This research investigates how food safety is governed within Malaysia’s online homemade food sector, with a particular focus on existing practices, regulatory gaps, and potential pathways for effective and inclusive governance. Adopting a mixed‑methods research design, the study combines a quantitative survey of online homemade food producers with qualitative data from semi‑structured interviews with food technologists as well as focus group discussions involving key stakeholders. Quantitative findings reveal uneven levels of food safety knowledge, reliance on informal documentation, and limited engagement with formal registration and traceability systems. Qualitative analysis further identifies challenges faced by regulators in monitoring home‑based food production, limitations of traditional enforcement approaches, and the growing influence of digital platforms and vendors in shaping compliance behaviours. Guided by food safety culture and governance perspectives, the study argues that conventional regulatory models are insufficient for managing digitally mediated informal food systems. Instead, it highlights the need for adaptive and supportive governance approaches that integrate education‑first enforcement, risk‑based oversight, digital traceability tools, and strategic partnerships with online platforms and community networks. This research proposes a context‑specific governance framework designed to strengthen food safety while recognising the operational realities of home‑based food producers. By extending food safety governance discourse to informal and digital food environments, this research offers practical and policy‑relevant contributions to improving consumer protection and supporting sustainable growth within Malaysia’s online homemade food sector.