Chinese Immigrants and Lifelong Learning for Food Safety and Diversity

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1 Chinese Immigrants and Lifelong Learning for Food Safety and Diversity Lichun Willa Liu University of Toronto Abstract: This paper explores lifelong learning involved in food safety practices among the recent Chinese immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area, and their educational and information needs on food safety. Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), this paper used a mixed methods approach to collect data: a small-scale survey and two focus groups with the Chinese immigrants, who had lived in Canada within 10 years. This paper demonstrates how immigration poses challenges and changes in food work and food practices and what the recent Chinese immigrants have to learn in order to make their food safe. Introduction Traditional foods and food practices constitute an important part of immigrants cultural and ethnic identity. Retaining food diversity also enriches the multicultural Canadian society. However, ensuring the safety of traditional foods and safe food handling practices in a new cultural context presents a big challenge for the recent immigrants of various ethnic backgrounds in Canada. Chinese immigrants make up one of the largest immigrant groups to Canada in the past decade (Citizenship and Immigration of Canada, 2008) and over half of them settled in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). With a population of close to half a million, Chinese community is one of the largest visible minority groups in the GTA (Statistics Canada, 2008). Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), this paper explores lifelong learning involved in food safety practices of recent Chinese immigrants in the GTA and their educational and information needs on food safety-related issues. A mixed methods approach is used to collect data, which includes a small-scale survey and two focus groups with recent Chinese immigrants who came to Canada in the past decade. By exploring the changes and challenges in food work and food practices, this paper demonstrates how immigration influences what the participants do and what they learn in order to keep their food safe. By make visible the food safety practices, this paper also makes visible the learning involved in safe food handling. Literature on Chinese Food Cultures, Food Safety, and Lifelong Learning Food Beliefs in Chinese Culture Food and eating are an important part of Chinese culture and central to the Chinese way of life. Influenced by the yin-yang principle, an important concept in traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese food emphasizes a balance of both fan (e.g. rice, noodles, and steamed buns, dumplings) and ts ai (e.g. stir-fried vegetable and meat dishes) (Chang, 1977) as well as the balance of hot items such as fried, spicy or rich foods, and cold foods such as leafy green vegetables (Chau et al., 1990; Chen, 2001). For over two thousand years, Chinese have been using food as a disease preventive or cure. Unlike the everyday thinking in the West, where foods are commonly organized according to principles of good and bad (Lupton & Chapman, 1995), there is no good or bad food but only right or wrong food in the Chinese ideas and beliefs about food. If improper combined, food may cause illnesses, food may also be used to strengthen health, if carefully selected and properly administered. Food, therefore, is also medicine (Chang, 1977: 10). Traditional Chinese beliefs about food have a great influence on the ways and manners in which Chinese immigrants prepare and eat food (Satia, 1999). Like immigrants from other parts of the world, Chinese immigrants brought with them traditional Chinese food beliefs and practices, including knowledge of the yin-yang principle about food and the balance of cold and hot food. Meanwhile, they have also incorporated new foods in their diet, modified their way of cooking and learned new food knowledge and skills to improve their health, and to adapt to the changes in food and eating in their new home country (Liu, 2009). So far studies on Chinese immigrants and food have focused mainly on food acculturation and its influences on immigrants dietary habits and health. No research has been found that examines changes in their food safety beliefs and practices. 220

2 CASAE 2010 Conference Proceedings 221 Literature on Food Safety Food safety has been the top priority of the Canadian Government (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 2009). However, a recent review of literature on food safety and traditional foods has indicated that there are wide knowledge gaps in the area of traditional foods and food safety and that little is known about the risks of traditional foods and incidences of food-borne illness among new immigrants to Canada (Dietrich, Isaacs & Marshall, 2007; Papadopoulos, Isaacs and Marshall, 2009). On the other hand, studies show that immigrants may also be faced with potential food risks associated with the new culture s mainstream foods (MacDonald et al., 2005). A few studies have been found on food risks in Chinese restaurants in North American (Tiwari et al., 1976; Ying, 2000), but no research has been done on traditional food safety practices in immigrants private homes nor on their educational and information needs on safe food handling in their new homes in Canada. Literature on Lifelong Learning In recent years, lifelong learning has become a popular concept in adult education because it is seen as covering a whole range of learning activities: formal, informal and non-formal, and it is believed to have the potential to promote economic development, democracy, and social justice (Leathwood, 2006). However, so far research on lifelong learning has mainly focused on formal training for paid work in the labour market, ignoring the gendered pattern in lifelong learning (Leathwood and Francis, 2006) and the homeplace and household work (e.g. food work) as important sites of learning (Gouthro, 2005; Eichler, 2005). Using lifelong learning as a framework (especially, informal and non-formal learning), this paper explores learning involved in cooking, food preparation and grocery shopping, and how this learning influences and is influenced by food beliefs and food practices after immigration. The goal of this paper is to make visible the traditional knowledge and practices on food handling, the new learning they acquired as well as the educational and information needs of the recent Chinese immigrants concerning food safety. Methods A mixed methods of a small-scale survey (n=22), and two focus groups (n=6 for each group) were used to collect data among recent Chinese immigrants, who had been in Canada for 10 years or less and were residing in the Greater Toronto Area at the time of participation in my research. The Survey on Food Practices after Immigration Questionnaires were sent electronically to two lists of Chinese immigrants. One list had about 15 members, most of whom were women and all of them were professionals before immigration. The other list included around 30 members, most of whom were graduate students at a Canadian university. Hard copies were also distributed to recent Chinese immigrants at academic workshops and seminars. Twenty-two valid copies of survey questionnaires were returned, including 12 hard copies and 6 electronic copies. Of the people surveyed, 87 percent were women, three were men, ranging in age between 23 and 74 years. Most of the participants are married (68%), with at least one child in their family (59%). Eighty-two percent of the participants have an educational level of college/university and above. Forty-two percent are new immigrants (within three years of residence in Canada). The survey examined food practices in the following five aspects: food habits and choices, grocery shopping, food preparation, eating out, and sources of information on food safety. The goal of the survey was to document the changes in food habits and practices, as well as the challenges in accessing information on food safety after immigration. Focus Groups Focus groups were conducted in Mandarin Chinese with two groups of recent immigrant women: a. older women (55 years in age or older) who were relatively new in Canada. With the exception of one old woman, most of them had been in Canada for less than three years and were mostly visiting their children, or taking care of their grandchildren in Canada; and b. middle-aged women (age 35-50, except one in her late 50s). Compared to the older women group, most of whom had high school education (5 out of 6), women in the middle-aged groups all had university degrees or above. With the exception of two, who had been in Canada for less than two years, the other four women in the middle-aged group had been in Canada for about eight years. The purpose of the focus groups was to explore in greater detail some of the issues identified in the survey, such as the changes in food knowledge and practices related to grocery shopping, food preparation and food storage, the challenges/barriers they encountered in accessing food safety information and community services as well as their educational and information needs on food safety.

3 222 The Results Major Findings from the Survey Changes in food practices. The majority of recent Chinese immigrants (86%) reported maintaining a traditional diet. But nearly all of the recent immigrants (91%) reported increased consumption of some Canadian style of food in their diet, such as bread (96%), dairy products (91%), pasta (82%), and salads (71%) and organic food (64%). About half of the participants reported consuming more meat (including chicken and fish) (50%), frozen food (55%), and dessert (55%). About two thirds of the participants (68%) reported no change in their consumption of rice and noodles, but slightly reduced consumption of steamed bread, another traditional Chinese food. About half of the participants reported eating less ready-to-eat/precooked food, and eating out less frequently (55%) than before, likely because the majority of them did not have a full-time job (86%). The majority of the participants reported shopping in Chinese supermarkets (77%), with some also shopping in non-chinese supermarkets (41%). All of the participants reported that they were concerned about food safety when grocery shopping. Many of them checked food labels for expiry date (86%), freshness of food (64%), and food prices (50%). Over half of the participants reported that they reduced frequency in grocery shopping after immigration from once a day to about once a week (55%), and that their purchase decisions were determined mainly by the location of the stores (59%), personal and family preferences (55%) and nutrition (50%). Relatively fewer participants 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. When they prepared food, food safety was among their top concerns (73%), in addition to nutrition (96%), balanced diet (86%), and food preferences (86%). When they eat out, they were more concerned about food prices (96%), taste (96%), food safety (91%) and cleanliness of the restaurants (77%). Educational needs. Many participants said they would like to learn more about food-borne diseases (68%) and junk food (50%). Half of the participants were also interested in learning more about food storage (59%), food preparation (50%), and growing food (50%). Three major sources of information on food safety were identified: television (55%), the internet (55%), family and friends (50%). Half of the people surveyed estimated that they were well-informed about food-safety issues while a CASAE 2010 Conference Proceedings third of them said that they knew only a little about food safety. Four factors were identified as barriers that prevent them from learning more about food safety: lack of time (32%), language barriers (27%), don t know where to find the information (23%), and don t care about it (23%). Preferred ways of receiving information on food safety. although only about one fifth of the participants viewed language as a barrier to food safety information, the vast majority of the participants preferred to receive such information in their mother tongue (82%), through public media (e.g. TV, newspapers/books/magazine) (68%), the internet (59%), and through family and friends (50%). Only a smaller number of participants said they would prefer to get food safety information from the community centre (32%) and the government (27%), which is likely because most of the information from the latter two sources is mainly in English, and thus, less accessible to the new Chinese immigrants. Major Findings from the Focus Group Learning new food safety practices. Overall, all the recent immigrants believed that foods they eat in Canada are safer than foods they ate in their home country, especially in relation to the use of pesticides, additives, and hormones in food production. Compared to their home country, the participants also believeed that food safety alerts and food recalls system are more effective in Canada than in China. Except for a couple of participants who said that they have always been concerned about food safety before and after immigration, the majority of the recent immigrant women said that they became more aware of food safety, nutrition and health and have thus changed some of their previous practices since they came to Canada. Here are some of the practices they have learned to do since immigration: 1. checking food labels for expiry date, calories, salt, fat, cholesterols, etc. when shopping for food 2. developing the habit of using separate chopping boards for cutting raw and cooked foods/meats 3. using service spoons or chopsticks when serving meals to individual plates 4. Avoid using Styrofoam to heat food in the microwave oven 5. reducing the use of dishwashing detergents for health and environmental concerns

4 CASAE 2010 Conference Proceedings 223 Many participants shared their own experiences and practices in washing the dishes, fruits and vegetables without using any detergents, such as saving the water after washing rice for removing pesticides residues from fruits and vegetables, or using light salt water to wash them. Some said that they found it was healthier and more environmental friendly to save the water from broiling noodles and dumplings for dish washing after meals. However, data from the two focus groups with recent Chinese immigrant women show that women s learning experiences varied by age, the presence of young children in the family, length of residence in Canada, level of English and level of education. Generally speaking, younger women, especially those who have lived in Canada for a relatively longer period of time (e.g. 6 years or more), who are fluent in English, or received post-graduate education in Canada are far more aware of food risks and food-borne illnesses, have less difficulty in finding food-related information, are better informed about food safety and healthy eating and are more engaged in safe food practices. On the whole the newer immigrants (three years or less in Canada), whether young or old, find English a big challenge for them. Furthermore, they usually do not know where to access food and health related information. The newcomers reported that they experienced financial constraints in purchasing ethnic and healthy foods for their families mainly because of limited income. Nearly all of them reported difficulties in understanding food labels, and accessing information on food safety from the mainstream sources. Instead, they relied heavily on media in the Chinese language (TV, newspapers, websites, etc.) as major sources of knowledge and information. The new immigrants on the whole said that they were more concerned about food prices than food safety partly because many of them did not have full-time jobs, and partly because they thought foods are safer and water is cleaner in Canada, and feel more comfortable eating greens raw (salads), and drinking water directly from the tap. Older women (age 55 years and above) considered lack of English as their biggest barrier in understanding food safety and nutrition related information when grocery shopping, accessing government services for seniors and public promotions (e.g. workshops, seminars) on food safety, nutrition and healthy eating. As a result, they reported rarely doing their grocery shopping outside of Chinatown and were less likely than their younger counterparts to adopt nontraditional foods, as they have had fewer opportunities to diversify their diet. Older immigrant women also complained about the inefficiency of the Canadian health system, and expressed their fears of not being able to get timely treatment when they fall ill. Conclusion Data from the survey and the focus groups indicates that recent Chinese immigrants have experienced changes in their food habits and food practices, and much of those changes and the related learning were associated with keeping their food safe and healthy, such as checking food labels for expiry dates and contents of ingredients, changing some of their old practices in preparing and serving foods (e.g. defrosting in the fridge instead of the kitchen counter, using separate chopping boards for cutting raw and cooked meats, using separate spoons and chopsticks to serve food, etc). Although many participants indicated that they became more health conscious and more aware of food safety, they lacked access to mainstream sources of information on food-borne diseases and about food safety risks. Inefficiency in the English language was identified as the biggest barrier in acquiring the necessary information on food safety from government-funded sources. Thus, it is recommended that more ethnic-friendly educational resources on food safety should be developed, such as hiring more community health workers who can provide services in the language of the new immigrants, developing and disseminating educational materials in the ethnic languages in order to meet the growing needs of the visible minority immigrant population. References Canadian Food Inspection Agency (2009). Government of Canada Takes Action to Improve Food Safety. Available from Chang, K. C. (Ed.). (1977). Food in Chinese Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press. Chau, P., Lee, H.-s., Tseng, R., & Downes, N. J. (1990). Dietary habits, health beliefs, and food practices of elderly Chinese women. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 90(4), Chen, Y. C. (2001). Chinese values, health and nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (2009). Facts and Figures 2008 Immigration Overview: Permanent and Temporary Residents Retrieved Feb.15, 2010, from

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