THE SANITARIAN’S FILE
By Robert W. Powitz, Ph.D., MPH
Ethnic Foods
and the Sanitarian
As a nation, we spend close to 50% of our food dollars on food prepared away from home. A good portion of that food
is ethnic cuisine. Our penchant for ex-
otic tastes has led retail food industry
pundits to predict that the demand for
ethnic foods will see a 50% rise within the next 10 years. As regula-
tors, we not only need to cope with the existing establishments, but
we also have to prepare ourselves for the predicted increase in num-
bers of these establishments, as well as the concomitant increase in
the diversity and variety of ethnic menu items.
Our basic and, in most instances, only tool for adjudging ethnic food safety is
and will remain the FDA Food Code. How we use this document in dealing with
esoteric cuisines and preparation methods will determine consumer confidence
and ultimately demand. The science upon which the Food Code is based is both
solid and conservative. It is an immensely useful resource document beyond the
obvious determinants of compliance versus non-compliance. I have found that the
Food Code lends itself quite well to the interpretation of many strange and exotic
dishes and their unconventional methods of preparation. Needless to say, ethnic
foods present challenges that will require some additional training for field sanitarians. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
If we stand back and look at the ethnic retail food industry through a wide-angle
lens, several things become quite evident.
• First, we’ve always had “ethnic foods.” The gustatory preferences of the first Europeans landing in the Americas were quite different from those of the First Nation
populations. In effect, European dishes were the first ethnic foods introduced to
the Western Hemisphere; the second came from Africa. Over more than 300 years,
“American” cuisine has definitely evolved and many former “ethnic” dishes from
both sides of the pond, as well as those
developed here out of availability and
need, were modified in their method of
preparation and even in their basic ingredients to accommodate demand, societal tastes and ease of cooking.
• Secondly, immigration from China,
Japan, Mexico, Latin America and Eastern Europe over the past 100 years has
resulted in making some formerly unusual ethnic dishes become mainstream.
Likewise, the newest wave of Thai, Vietnamese, Southeast Asian, Pacific Rim,
Indian/Pakistani, Caribbean and
Near/Middle Eastern immigrants are
making foods from those regions more
commonplace here. The prediction is
that neo-African as well as different Eastern European and East Asian influences
will soon follow. In all of those cultures,
including those with religious dietary restrictions and preferences, people have
been making their native dishes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years without
destroying their family groups or their
societies through foodborne disease.
Therefore, we can assume that something was done correctly in maintaining
food safety, particularly on a small scale.
The acceptance of pasta, pizza, pot stickers, tacos, sausages and a whole host of
corn-based dishes into American culture
was made possible by adapting various
family recipes to modern, quantity
cooking methods. As this trend continues, foods with names such as “kibbee,”
“bibimbop,” “pho,” “momos,” “naan,”
and “feijoada” will gradually work their
way into our everyday tastes and vocabulary. The key to this acceptance lies in
the art and science of food safety, as its
principles are used in adapting these
dishes to modern quantity cooking and
safe methods of preparation, packaging,
storage and service. By knowing the ingredients and the potential hazards associated with them, by understanding the
recipes and the original ways of preparation—admittedly, some of which are
quite unconventional by Western standards—we can transcend the mystique
of language and substance and assure
safe foods for our public.
