Toronto Public Health removes ‘racist’ document suggesting Chinese food causes food poisoning
Food Handler Certification Manual taken off city’s website after local food justice advocate complained its wording was racist.
Toronto Public Health removed an online training manual for the Food Handler Certification Program from their website after receiving a complaint that the manual was racist because it refers to "Chinese-style food" as a cause for both a type of food poisoning and a type of foodborne illness. Pictured above: The first reference to Chinese-style food in the 2004 manual.
Toronto Public Health has removed a decade-old manual from its website after receiving a complaint [Awww] that the document was "racist" because it singled out “Chinese-style foods” as a potential cause of food poisoning. [although true]
Vanessa Ling Yu, founder of caterToronto, a community-based catering network and co-director of Food Forward, a food advocacy group, was studying the city department’s Food Handler Certification online training manual last Wednesday when she found two references to “Chinese-style foods, rice” causing bacterial intoxication.
That type of food-borne illness can cause vomiting and diarrhea, the document said.
Chinese food was the only ethnic-specific cooking referenced in the 71-page manual, which was published in 2004. [So many cases of illness have been reported eating said foods]
Identifying a particular culture’s food as being prone to illness is inappropriate [is appropriate ] and “racist", [not racist] said Yu, a Chinese-Canadian [is she Chinese or Canadian?] who “grew up” in a Chinese restaurant.[we are sorry about that] The document shamed [warns about] Chinese tradition and culinary practices by singling out [pointing out] its cuisine, she told the Star.
“It positions it in a way that colours the way we police and perceive something that people are supposed to be very proud of,” Yu said. [poor grammar]
As Yu is familiar with Toronto’s food industry, she emailed her complaint directly to contacts within the Toronto Food Policy Council rather than going through the Toronto Public Health’s Complaints Officer, a process that allows up to 30 days for a response. She also tweeted at the city department, who responded the next day with promises to look into the grievance.
In an emailed response to Yu’s complaint two days later, city staff said there is no place for hurtful or negative stereotypes in Toronto Public Health programs or services.
“(The manual) will be thoroughly reviewed and revised, as will all our course material, to ensure that they don’t contain inappropriate cultural references,” the email said. [...and when appropriate, do they include it? Political Correctness gone haywire]
Toronto Public Health spokesperson Kris Scheuer said Tuesday that the 10-year-old document needed updating. Toronto Public Health usually edits documents every five years, she said in an email to the Star.
“A new revised version of the training manual will be posted online this fall,” Scheuer wrote.
The training manual, which was available free on the website, was removed last week.
Yu said the toxins that cause bacterial intoxication only grow in cooked rice, not all Chinese food. Bacteria growth can occur in many high-protein grains, such as quinoa and wheat berries.
“There was no reason to say Chinese-style foods,” Yu said. “It could have very well said cooked rice. If they want it to be specific, they could have said lots of groups eat rice and bacteria can grown in it in certain temperatures.”
The Food Handler Certification Program teaches future food handlers about public health legislation, the role of the public health inspector, food-borne illness, safe food handling methods and food premises sanitation. Handlers must then successfully complete an exam to obtain a food handler certificate meeting the Ontario Ministry of Health’s food handling training protocol.
A big part of the document’s problem is the vague and all-encompassing reference to “Chinese-style,” Yu said. The training manual doesn’t explain which foods fall into that category. When listing which foods that cause the illnesses’ other symptom — diarrhea — the document specifies soups, custards, meat and poultry.
Yu said heralded Toronto Public Health’s quick response on social media, but said that while she is happy with the immediacy she believes the channels available for Torontonians to speak up about city-related issues aren’t always clear.
“I don’t know if others could have gone through and made it happen so quickly.”
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