Addressing cultural diversity and food safety programs: the Victorian experience

Food safety programs have been adopted in Victorian legislation, and have been included in the Australia and New Zealand Food Safety Standards. This study explored the introduction of the food safety program concept amongst Vietnamese food retailers. This paper presents the results of a process evaluation of the 'Food Safety Awareness Campaign', implemented amongst Vietnamese food retailers in Melbourne by a group of local government agencies. The evaluation involved the collection of qualitative data from both a group of Vietnamese food proprietors, and a group of environmental health officers who were involved in the program. The evaluation revealed that there was a general understanding of the program, along with its requirements, by the proprietors. This understanding was attributed to the program being conducted in the workplace, general acceptance of the delivery style and the provision of resource materials to facilitate the food safety documentation. A number of areas were identified that impeded the program, particularly the implementation of program tasks by the food proprietors. These included the need for a greater understanding of food hygiene concepts, issues surrounding cultural acceptability, time, costs, benefits, practicality and sustainability of implementing the program. Recommendations for improving the program included; investigating the recruitment of bi-lingual workers, enhancing the program resource materials, the inclusion of food handling staff in the training programs, and the development of strategies surrounding the promotion of benefits of food safety programs for small business.