During Lunar New Year, many people choose to have “Poon Choi” takeaway at home instead. Nevertheless, most of the food items in “Poon Choi” are high in fat and cooked with lots of salty sauce and seasonings. Moreover, since “Poon Choi” comprises different kinds of food and requires longer time for preparation, food safety problems are more likely to occur. In order to enjoy “Poon Choi” healthily, here are some tips for you when purchase and consume them.
Tips for ordering “Poon Choi ”
- Most of the ingredients of “Poon Choi” are meat and seafood. Often, the quantity of these food items for each person exceeds what we need in a day. It is suggested to order a “Poon Choi” in a right portion size and share with family members and friends, and consume meat, fish, egg and alternatives in moderation. According to the “Healthy Eating Food Pyramid”, adults are recommended to have 5 to 8 taels of meat and alternatives a day.
- Most of the meat items added to “Poon Choi” are high in fat, such as pork belly, trotter, goose web, and pig skin. Choose one with fewer high-fat ingredients.
- Sauce and seasonings such as oyster sauce, fermented red bean curd and Chu-hau sauce are high in salt and usually added in large amount. It is recommended to keep the sauce separated from the foods and not to ask for extra sauce for “Poon Choi” in order to limit intake of salt (sodium).
Tips for eating “Poon Choi”
- Provide extra vegetables. Aim for 160g (¼ catty raw vegetables) of vegetables for each person per meal.
- Go with grains such as white or red rice, udon and rice vermicelli to achieve the healthy eating principle, that is the most we eat should be grains, and dishes should mainly comprised of vegetables, while meat should be consumed in moderation.
- Do not cook grains and vegetables in “Poon Choi” or serve rice with sauce and gravy from “Poon Choi”, in order to reduce our fat and salt intake.
- Reduce intake of visible fat from meat and skin of poultry.
- Recommend to choose fruit as desserts.
- People with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, gout, should seek advices from healthcare professionals on “Poon Choi” consumption to avoid any undesirable effect on health.
Food safety when handling “ Poon Choi”
- For more food safety information, please visit the webpage of the Centre of Food Safety at https://www.cfs.gov.hk.
(Revised Dec 2023)