Changes in diet and food safety practices
In our survey, the majority of respondents reported adopting new food items to their diet (91%), such as bread (96%), dairy products (91%), pasta (82%), and salads (71%). Many of the respondents also reported increased consumption of meat (50%), frozen food (55%), dessert (55%), and organic food (64%) (see Fig. 1). Over two-thirds of the respondents reported maintaining a traditional diet (68%), with rice and noodles as their staple foods, but slightly reduced consumption of steamed bread, another traditional Chinese staple food. However, in contrast to literature on Chinese immigrant dietary acculturation (Lv and Cason 2004; Satia 2000; Wang 2007), half of the respondents consumed less processed or ready-to-eat food than before. This is probably because of their reduced source of income after immigration, as the majority of them (86%) did not have a full-time job at the time of their participation in this research.
All the participants reported that they were concerned about food safety when they do grocery shopping. Many of them said that they would take the following factors into consideration when doing grocery shopping: expiry date (86%), freshness (64%), location of the stores (59%), personal/family preferences (55%), food prices (50%), and nutrition (50%). A relatively small number of the respondents said they cared about local food (41%) or brand names of the food (36%), which were likely to be more expensive and thus less affordable for the new immigrants.
The majority of people surveyed (82%) said they were responsible for cooking in their family. While many respondents reported food safety as their top priority (73%), the vast majority seemed to be more concerned about nutrition (96%) and food preferences (86%) when they cooked or prepared food for themselves and their family.
Over half of the respondents reported reduced frequency in eating out (55%) since they immigrated to Canada. However, when they did eat out, food safety was reported as one of their top concerns (91%), followed by cleanliness of the restaurants (77%).
Food safety-related learning
Overall, nearly all the recent immigrants in the focus group felt that foods they eat are safer in Canada than in their home country, with reduced or strictly controlled use of pesticides, additives, and hormones. Compared to their home country, where food recall is often done only after reports of incidences of food-borne illness, the very recent newcomers felt that food safety alerts and food recalls were done as precaution to prevent diseases in Canada, well before the contaminated food reaches their table.
I feel that they have better food quality control here, and I don’t see a lot of negative reports in the media on food safety. So I am less concerned about food safety now and normally don’t check what I buy. (Min, 42, female, less than a year in Canada)
With the exception of one or two who said that they have always been concerned about food safety before and after immigration, the majority of the participants in the focus group said that they became more aware of food safety, nutrition and health since they came to Canada. Many also reported learning new practices in purchasing, preparing/cooking, and storing food. These include checking food labels for expiry date, using separate chopping boards for cutting raw meats and cooked food, and avoiding heating food in Styrofoam boxes. Many also reported changing their old habit of taking food with their own chopsticks by learning to use service spoons or chopsticks when serving meals and when eating from shared dishes. Several participants re-discovered some traditional ways of dish cleaning in order to reduce the use of detergents. These include using water from boiling noodles and dumplings in washing off grease from the dishes, and saving water from washing rice to help remove pesticide residues from fruits and vegetables. Many respondents found that these practices are effective, economical, and beneficial to their own health and the environment.
Ling is a woman in her mid-30 seconds and a mother of a 17-month-old daughter. Compared to other women in the focus groups, Ling is the most knowledgeable person in regards to food and health—a result of her long-time passion for food and eating. When she goes grocery shopping, Ling said that she checks not only the expiry date, but also the ingredients, such as the content of salt, fat, calcium, and vitamins, etc. When she cooks, Ling always uses separate chopping-boards and knives to cut meats and vegetables and assigns different bowls and containers for holding raw meats and cooked food. She also sanitizes all her cutleries after they are washed to keep them free from bacteria.
We don’t use a dishwasher but use a sterilizer to sterilize dishes. I separate the dishes for raw meat and for cooked food. I also use different cloth to wash different things. For example, I use a white cloth to wash containers for raw food. (Ling, mid-30 seconds, female)
Ling also reported learning to differentiate different types of plastic bags/containers when freezing or storing foods in the refrigerator. Whenever there was a food recall or an outbreak of diseases (e.g. SARS, mad-cow disease), Ling would search on-line to find more information on it and to check it out on the official public health websites both in Canada and the United States. In addition, Ling makes their own sausages at home, because she thinks homemade sausages are safer and healthier than those sold in the store.
Sources of information on food safety
Over half of participants said they learned something about food safety after immigration (55%). The three major sources they used to acquire information on food safety were: TV (55%), Internet (55%), family and friends (50%). Self-reported barriers to food safety in the survey include language barrier (22%), not knowing where to find such information (27%), and lack of time (32%). Despite the low percentage of report on language barrier, the vast majority of the participants preferred to receive food safety information in their mother tongue (82%), through public media (e.g. TV, newspapers/books/magazine) (68%), the internet (59%), and from family and friends (50%). Only a small number of participants reported getting food safety information from the government (27%) or the community centre (32%). In terms of their interest in food safety-related learning, two-thirds of the respondents reported learning about food-borne diseases (68%), followed by learning on food storage (59%) and food preparation (50%).
Challenges in food safety practices
In both focus groups with the Chinese immigrants and in the interviews with community workers and health educators, the English language was viewed as the biggest challenge for Chinese immigrants, especially newcomers and older adults, in accessing information on food safety. Here is a quote from Yue, a woman in her mid-40 seconds who had been in Canada for less than a year when she participated in this research:
I don’t know how to get food safety information, as everything is in English. Even if it is available, I don’t think I have the time to sit down and search for such information or attend workshops. Even if I decide to check it out, I think I will get it from the free Chinese language newspapers like Du shi Bao (Metropolitan News) and Beimei Shibao (North American Journals) or the Chinese-language website like www.51.ca for new immigrants from Mainland China.
As a brand-new immigrant without a full-time job, Yue said she is most concerned about food prices. “Every week I would get the flyers, and see what’s on sale, and then run from store to store to get them.” When asked if she has any concerns for the safety of those on-sale foods, Yue said, “I feel the food is so safe here that I am never worried about it, and never bothered to check it.”
Juan is a 63-year-old woman who came to Canada 8 years ago. Despite her efforts in learning English through LINC/ESL classes and by watching TV and reading newspapers, Juan found her English not enough for her to understand food labels when grocery shopping, and to read information on food safety and disease prevention such as H1N1. “My English level is still relatively low. I always have to use a dictionary to understand the news and the pamphlets distributed by the government,” Juan said.
Fang, a 61-year-old woman, came to Canada two years earlier to help her daughter with childcare. Fang talked about the challenges in adjusting to changes in her food work.
I didn’t pay much attention to those things before. I used to think I had done well enough. But when I came here, there are suddenly so many things I need to pay attention to. The young people, they care about so many things. For example, after I cut the meat, I was required to sanitize the knives. I need to wash the chopping board with detergent, rinse it thoroughly with hot water, and then hang it to dry it….
Gaps in food-safety practices
The research on Chinese immigrants’ food safety practices reveals several gaps in their food safety knowledge and practices. Many showed great concern for food safety (64%) and expressed desire of learning more in the following aspects: food-borne diseases (68%), food preparation and storage (59% respectively), junk food (50%) and how to grow their own food in an urban context (50%) (See Fig. 2).
Furthermore, most of the participants lack adequate knowledge of Canadian food safety guidelines and recommended food handling practices. For example, many respondents reported washing hands before and after handling food, but they did not always use soap and water nor did they always wash for the recommended 20 seconds. Quite a number of the participants were not aware that it is not safe to defrost meat/thawing frozen meat over the counter at room temperature. Almost none of the Chinese participants reported using a thermometer to test the temperature when cooking meat. When storing food, none of the participants were aware of the recommended time (within 2 hours of cooking) and temperature for refrigerating or freezing cooked food. Neither did any of the participants reported dating food before putting it in the refrigerator.
Recommendations
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a.
Recommendations from Chinese immigrants
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Holding lectures about food safety for people of all ages, especially the seniors.
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Hiring more Mandarin-speaking health promoters to deliver the information and translate the most important information about food safety in different ethnic languages.
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To maximize the benefits of the resources in a more economic way, public health organizations can have these workshops videotaped, put on their websites or shown at community centres where new immigrants can easily get access to them.
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b.
Recommendations from Public Health professionals:
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Hire more educators who speak ethnic language/seconds (i.e. Mandarin), to reach out to the new immigrants with language barriers.
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Translate some of the most important information on food safety into ethnic language/seconds (so far only the Canadian food guide has been translated into different languages). Distribute them not only through public health websites, but also through traditional means of pamphlets, community centres, schools, early child centres, doctors’ offices, etc.
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Develop programs to reach out to isolated groups (either because of language, health problems, poverty); people with mental health issues; low-income families who use the community kitchen or food bank. Engage in more outreach because many new immigrants often do not know where to get the information.
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Develop/create effective ways to disseminate information on food safety, to make the learning more engaging, e.g. incorporate such knowledge into extra-curriculum activities, like community kitchens, etc.
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Recognize the need for educating newcomers about food allergies—peanut, seafood, etc., proper practices in defrosting meat, and in washing (as well as over washing) fruits and vegetables.