Food hygiene

Hi,

I'm going to leave to SE Asia (Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam, Kambodia, Malaysia) on Monday for 2 months. My biggest concern is the hygiene in restaurants and the places you can buy food on the street. Although it seems to be inevitable, I don't want to get any bad stomach disorder and loose a lot of weigth. It may sound like a silly question, but does anybody have any good tips how to reduce the risk to the minimum? In case I get sick, is there any good cure (something natural, maybe) in addition to pills? What kind of pills are the most effective?

Advice from people with that kind of unpleasant experience could be more useful than a lecture from a local chemist here in Estonia.

Thanks very much, Hannes

PS. Any improvement of the situation of food / hygiene in Laos and Kambodia over the few years?

Why start two separate threads? That's what cross-posting is for.

Street food: If a stall has lots of customers, then the turnover is pretty high and food probably isn't sitting around too much. Don't be the first person you see to buy and eat something. Try to buy it immediately after it was made.

Restaurants: Don't drink unbottled water. Don't get ice in your drink. Some places unbottle the water before they bring it to your table, so tell them beforehand that you want to open the bottle.

All food: the supposed rule is to cook, peel, or throw away any food. Personally, I found it impossible to follow that rule and still try the foods I wanted. I wanted to eat the occasional salad.

You can brush your teeth in bottled water as well.

Wash your hands if you can, before you eat anything. You should also try very hard not to rub your eyes or nose unless your hands are clean. These are good rules at home, too.

As far as pills, well, it depends what you've got. Some things need real medicine to cure, but for simple TD, Immodium should work fine. BUT REMEMBER, immodium does not cure anything. You're still sick. You need to stay hydrated at all costs.

Finally, quit worrying. Enjoy yourself and don't let the fear of illness take away from your excitement. Being a little sick isn't a big deal.

Hi Hannes

when I'm travelling I don't eat meat, as I believe that tends to carry more risk than vegetables, so I go totally vegeterian when I'm on the road. Also I avoid the local fresh water, drinking only bottled or boiled water. Those two precautions have done well for me.

If you do get a stomach upset you pretty much have to stop eating for a few days, take it very very easy and just keep your liquid intake up with boiled or bottled water - those 'isotonic sports drinks' with essential salts in them are good.

Cheers, John K.

I have never, ever, been crook from street food anywhere in the world (SE Asia, Africa, Chile), but have had a few queasy stomachs after some pretty swank restaurants. All of the above is excellent advice. Also: look for lots of locals, not tour buses and diplomatic plates - as with most things, local knowledge counts for volumes.

Agreed, but some people seem to have 'iron' stomachs and I am one. Traveling for four months in Mexico, and eating pretty much everything I never got Montezuma's Revenge, but most I was traveling did have an episode or two. I remember being super careful at first, never eating a salad, but as time went by I slacked off and just ate. I did drink bottled water, of course. So did the Mexicans

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When people get sick, they often spend a lot of time trying to figure out WHEN they were sick. Almost impossible. Some bugs take weeks to hit full on.

I had hepatitis A, and after some research found out that it could be 6 weeks from when you become infected to when you're sick. I could narrow my ghiardia down a little better, but still wasn't sure which country I was in when I was first infected (let alone which meal or drink).

By the way, for those who don't know: 'crook' mean sick.

I remember when I was in Australia and a guy told me he was 'crook.' I had no idea what that meant, and said, 'um, is that good or bad?' He was like, 'well, is it good or bad when YOU'RE crook?' He thought I was being a smart ass.

True....but if I feel fine for days eating street food and then have a case of the trots half an hour after leaving an establishment, chances are...

But your point about 'bugs' is well taken. Touch wood, I've never had a SERIOUS case on the road (or at home, come to think of it), just some 'ecch' and maybe some back end challenges...

Thanks for the very useful tips.

I had a case of food poisonoing a couple of weeks ago, and my mother in law who has an advanced degree in nutrition told me that a food poisining reaction will occur between one and six hours after injesting the bad food.

Nausea in the short term, diahrea long term.

So if you get the trots a half hour after leaving an establishment at which you ate lunch, then the problem was Breakfast. . .

You've got a mother in law who's an expert on food poisoning? I see a Monty Python - Agatha Christie joint venture coming on....