New data on ethnic foods

 Ethnic groups form a significant, and growing, part of the population in Europe.  Information on the dietary habits of ethnic groups and the composition of the food that they consume is important to enable targeting of dietary advice.  It can also assist in the development of appropriate strategies to address the reported inequalities in health status in some ethnic groups compared with the general population.

In addition, ethnic foods are becoming increasingly popular within mainstream populations in European countries.  Ethnic foods produced commercially are often formulated to suit the taste and preference of the mainstream population, and thus may be termed ‘modified ethnic foods’.

The main aim of EuroFIR’s ethnic foods work package was therefore to provide new and reliable data on the composition of foods consumed by both ethnic and mainstream populations for inclusion in national food composition databases.  The size and nature of the ethnic minority population and their dietary habits in seven European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK) was investigated.  This information was used to identify priority foods for which composition data are needed in each country.  A selection of priority foods was then analysed in each country using harmonised procedures for sampling and analysis.  In the UK, additional funding enabled the analysis of a wider range of foods.

New data on 131 foods has been provided.  This includes information on Asian (including South Asian and Pakistani), African (including North African, Ethiopian, Congolese), Mediterranean, Turkish, Romanian, Latin American and Surinamese foods.  In addition, procedures for estimating nutrient content based on recipe calculation have been developed.  The outputs have been disseminated through presentations and posters at international meetings and in scientific papers.

Publications

• Ethnic groups and foods in Europe. Synthesis Report No 3. (431 KB)