Fish don't fry in the kitchen

• Source: Global Times
• [23:44 April 07 2010]
• Comments

By Zhang Cao

Foreigners who are looking forward to being served a variety of street food and fish by their volunteer homestay hosts during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai are going to be disappointed.

To prevent foreigners from being harmed by potentially contaminated or dangerous foods, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed seven types of foods that homestay hosts are not allowed to serve their guests on Tuesday.

"It's really too bad because I was looking forward to being served some street food by a homestay host," Joel Balaquit, a Filipino who is hoping to be a homestay guest next month told the Global Times Wednesday. "I actually think some of the foods that are being banned would be quite tasty."

The prohibited foods include raw seafood, certain uncooked vegetables like lettuce and selected mushrooms, unrefrigerated items containing egg or milk, as well as fish containing tiny bones that may cause choking.

Homestay hosts are also required to purchase the food they will be serving their guests from designated grocery stores that have been approved by the local FDA.

As a precautionary measure, Expo volunteers will be dispatched to homestay homes to supervise the cooking process, making sure that clean utensils and responsible cooking methods are used, said Jin Tao, an Expo official in Zhabei district. He is in charge of overseeing this initiative for homestays in  the Linfen community during the Expo.

Though he admitted that the checks being put in place may seem a little over the top, he said they were necessary in order to ensure food safety for guests.

"The volunteers will also accompany the hosts to do their grocery shopping," he added. "All the receipts need to be kept, and for every meal they cook, they will need to set aside 100 grams of each dish as a sample in case there is a problem."

The local FDA is currently working on contacting all homestay hosts to inform them of the new rules and to offer them tips on responsible cooking. For homestay hosts who think the new food rules are too confusing or restrictive, they can opt to take their guests out to eat so long as the places they go to are on the local FDA's list of food safety-approved restaurants.