TheStar Online (January 20, 2009)While the China food scare has made consumers wary, traditional festive delicacies are staying on many home menus.
Although May Kang is not a big fan of waxed duck or yuen cheong (a type of Chinese sausage), she still bought the delicacies for her family as part of the Chinese New Year tradition.
Waxed delicacies, or lap mei, are must-haves in most families during the festivities and have been consumed by generations of Chinese.
However, the recent China food safety scandal over tainted milk products has deterred many consumers from purchasing made-in-China foods, waxed delicacies included.
Kang said her family only consumes such delicacies once a year and lap cheong (Chinese sausage), every few months.
“I think most products like Chinese sausages are still imported from China. I assume that if they manage to come into the country, they should have been checked by the authorities and are safe to eat,” said Kang, 36.
She said the amount of dried foodstuff that the stores carried this year has also gone down.
“Many shopkeepers said they did not stock up on many products this year and that once they sold off everything, they would not restock,” she said.
According to Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Association of Malaysia president Lean Hing Chuan, there was a 25% to 30% drop in Chinese New Year foodstuff imported from China this year compared with last year.
“The quantity imported last year had already been reduced. This year, it was even less. The global economic uncertainty and the China product safety issue are the two reasons,” he said.
Business has definitely been slower and two weeks before the New Year, Lean said there were still a lot of products left in the market, with retailers hoping for business to pick up in the last week.
The main foodstuff imported from China every year are mandarin oranges, dried mushrooms, waxed delicacies, red dates, dried longans and sweets.
Import of Chinese sausages, a popular food item during the festive season, dropped by 30% this year compared to last year, said Lean.
“When people hear that the products are from China, they get put off but if it’s from Hong Kong or Taiwan, they feel more confident.
“However, our Health Ministry has been very stringent about foods imported from China. The public should rest assured that products in the market here are safe for consumption,” he said.
Lean said the older generation tend to be more traditional and would still buy waxed delicacies like duck and meat slices but the younger generation was more likely to stay away.
Financial planner Simone Chen, 34, falls into the second category.
Every year without fail, she would buy waxed meat slices and Chinese sausages to make stewed rice, which her family enjoys. However, this year, she has convinced her parents not to eat the waxeddelicacies.
“We don’t plan to buy any lap mei this year because of the China food scare. Before I buy any product now, I will ask the shopkeeper where it is from. If it is from China, I will definitely not buy it,” she said firmly.
Instead, Chen looks around for foodstuff from other countries like sea cucumber from Hong Kong or dried oysters from Japan.
“Even though they may be more expensive, their quality is there and you can see the difference. Since it’s the New Year, my husband and I do not mind spending a little more for the celebrations,” said Chen, who also bought some Japanese dried mushrooms this year.
Does she intend to look for any alternatives to the waxed delicacies?
“No, this year, we are trying to buy less to reduce our spending due to the economic situation. Many people are doing the same thing,” said Chen, who will also be making some cookies instead of buying them.
Mother-of-one Julianne Leong has also cut down on spending this Chinese New Year and is generally staying away from China foodstuff.
She has ordered local, homemade lap cheong for the first time instead of getting them from the stores.
“I also bought some waxed meat slices, which my family loves, from a reputable Chinese medicine shop. I feel better doing that and the sales person there was quick to assure me their products were safe for consumption. I think we cannot be too careful sometimes,” said Leong, 42, an IT manager.
However, for foodstuff which her family consumes regularly like red dates or dried mushrooms, Leong said she does not ask about the products’ origin.
“So many things are still imported from China. There’s no way we can get around it completely. When we eat out, we cannot control the source of the food either,” said Leong.
Wong Kah Cane, general manager of Eu Yan Sang, said less than 10% of its products were imported from China and that 80% were locally sourced.
He said its lap mei products were imported from Hong Kong but since many Hong Kong companies have production plants in China, the company practised added caution to ensure product safety.
“The market is still sceptical about products from China, so we took extra measures and re-tested the products at external labs here,” he said.
The traditional Chinese medicine-based chain store also imports dried mushrooms from China and carries Chinese New Year biscuits and tidbits from Taiwan.
“This year, we imported about the same quantity of Chinese New Year products as last year. We also introduced more locally sourced items like grilled meat and smoked duck,” he said.
Two weeks before the New Year, he said about 95% of its lap mei products had already been sold.
“Such products are still well-received. During the festive season, it’s still important to have something traditional to eat,” he said, adding that the economic situation rather than the safety issue was a stronger reason people spent less this year.
> Words in italics are as pronounced in Cantonese.
