Thirty years ago, I was advised that it wasn't safe to consume fresh fruits and vegetables in restaurants in Thailand (or in many other parts of the world). How are things now? Do average places wash their vegetables in tap water?

 

Is food safety adequate to the point that one can eat most everything restaurants serve and only get sick once every few months, or do you still have to avoid certain things?

I hardly ever get sick from food in Thailand and did not 30 years ago either. I go food poisoning on a plane to Nepal once but that is about it. I did get sick from some soup on my first night in Cambodia many years ago, but stopped eating in places that catered to locals after that and had no more problems.

The effects are often long term and so not attributed to a specific meal

cancer, fertility and neurological effects are linked to pesticides. 

As for organic, I'm not aware of any checks: Call it organic and increase the price - draw your own conclusions

I have never had a guest/visitor get sick from eating street food... I once got sick eating a hamburger in a 5 star hotel in the countryside... they probably don't sell too many.. 

 

In other words, street food is pretty good, base your restaurant choices on how many customers they have when you walk past, but you might get a little sick anywhere... a quick 4 day course of anti-biotics will usually give an easy cure. 

Fruit and vegetables are sprayed with toxic chemicals and should be washed thoroughly, something I doubt street vendors and restaurants do.

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Fruit and vegetables are sprayed with toxic chemicals and should be washed thoroughly, something I doubt street vendors and restaurants do.

Good advice, also add a bit of vinegar to the water bowl filled with water to wash the items as it helps detoxify the vegetables/fruit.

Hepatitis in Thailand is fairly common, you should update your vaccinations. Also make sure drinks use clean ice. One time I forgot to check the ice for a coke on an intercity bus, was very sick for four days until I eventually managed to get to a doctor.

Edited March 8, 20188 yr by simple1

1 hour ago, kenk24 said:

 wellI have never had a guest/visitor get sick from eating street food... I once got sick eating a hamburger in a 5 star hotel in the countryside... they probably don't sell too many.. 

 

In other words, street food is pretty good, base your restaurant choices on how many customers they have when you walk past, but you might get a little sick anywhere... a quick 4 day course of anti-biotics will usually give an easy cure. 

I do not agree with your last line. There is far too much frivolous use of antibiotics on this planet and this is one of them. There are plenty of stomach calming potions on the market which work perfectly well. Those plus keeping hydrated will fix most problems.

Edited March 8, 20188 yr by Moonlover

All vegetable and fruits in Thailand are sprayed heavily with pesticides that are banned in Europe and the U.S. such as paraquat, one ounce of the stuff in our body would kill you. Of course you eat them now and feel no effects,but wait 5 or 10 years when you develop cancer or many other disease from it. 

So add the pesticides, and then the polluted air that exceeds WHO's limits by more that 50%. You likely wont be retired here for too long. 

This if a good place to come for a visit and leave, not to live long term. After 20 years I will be leaving in May.

Given that over half of the vegetables found in supermarket have over the legal limit of pesticides, its not recommended to eat raw vegetables in restaurants as most places don't wash is properly, especially street stall vendors. With that said, most folks don't get sick from eating it.

1 hour ago, kenk24 said:

I have never had a guest/visitor get sick from eating street food... I once got sick eating a hamburger in a 5 star hotel in the countryside... they probably don't sell too many.. 

 

In other words, street food is pretty good, base your restaurant choices on how many customers they have when you walk past, but you might get a little sick anywhere... a quick 4 day course of anti-biotics will usually give an easy cure. 

We are talking pesticides here.

40 minutes ago, uffe123 said:

All vegetable and fruits in Thailand are sprayed heavily with pesticides that are banned in Europe and the U.S. such as paraquat, one ounce of the stuff in our body would kill you. Of course you eat them now and feel no effects,but wait 5 or 10 years when you develop cancer or many other disease from it. 

So add the pesticides, and then the polluted air that exceeds WHO's limits by more that 50%. You likely wont be retired here for too long. 

This if a good place to come for a visit and leave, not to live long term. After 20 years I will be leaving in May.

I had to read it 3 times and I still NOT get it!

...after 20 years in Thailand you realize " it's a good place for a visit and leave, not to live long term"?????

It's really took you a long time, 20 years, to find that out!?!?!?

Ignoring the pesticide phobias, it's quite rare to get sick from eating fresh fruit and vegetables anywhere. They ferment when they are off, so it's fairly obvious by taste when they should not be eaten.

Proteins such as fish, shellfish and meat are a different story.  Flies are not seen at the vegetable and fruit stalls at markets; they hang around the meat and fish stalls. Food poisoning almost always comes from those sources. Although I am wondering how on earth rock melons ( cantaloupes ) in Australia have managed to get themselves contaminated with listeria - four deaths so far.

 

Shellfish is the only thing I have been really sick on in Thailand in 28 years.

The oysters fresh but grown around a sewerage outlet one surmises

We do eat a fair bit of salad so we de worm ourselves about every 3 months (29 Bht a dose)

 

20 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Ignoring the pesticide phobias, it's quite rare to get sick from eating fresh fruit and vegetables anywhere. 

 

You think it is irrational to worry about toxic chemicals on fruit and vegetables? Just another conspiracy theory perhaps?

hey Jerry,  alot of vendors purchase their products from macro as its designed for bulk purchases for restaurants, market stalls etc.  I was quite surprised at how much fruit and veges are imported into Thailand.  There were stacks of boxes with Product of China written all over them.

Just now, BigT73 said:

hey Jerry,  alot of vendors purchase their products from macro as its designed for bulk purchases for restaurants, market stalls etc.  I was quite surprised at how much fruit and veges are imported into Thailand.  There were stacks of boxes with Product of China written all over them.

I try and avoid Chinese fruit and vegetable imports as much as humanly possible. What kind of controls do you imagine are there for public safety?

23 minutes ago, giddyup said:

You think it is irrational to worry about toxic chemicals on fruit and vegetables? Just another conspiracy theory perhaps?

I recently posted this below and to be honest have no idea how to get around the problem. This because Chinese imports are just as contaminated, and washing will only get the superficial stuff off.........maybe stick with frozen veges from NZ, but what to do for salad stuff??

 

Have just read an article from a Thai journalist that says authorities here still allow the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate. These pesticides have been banned or are subjected to severe regulation and restricted use in many countries. For example, the weed-killing paraquat has been banned in 52 countries………..

 

Believe it or not, chemical residues in our salads are the byproducts of the state's lax regulation on chemical use in the agriculture sector. Our authorities still allow the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos etc.

 

He went on to say that many of the fruit/veges labelled "organic" were more heavily contaminated.

 

More disconcerting was the fact that even though the alarming results of this research were presented to the DOA, they do nothing about it. Brown envelopes from the rich and powerful I would suspect. 

We was everything, my wife recently was hospitalised after eating for that had formalin in it...Profit before anything !

2 hours ago, Ninni said:

I had to read it 3 times and I still NOT get it!

...after 20 years in Thailand you realize " it's a good place for a visit and leave, not to live long term"?????

It's really took you a long time, 20 years, to find that out!?!?!?

I guess 'is penny drops a bit slow like.

Thanks, a long time ago the worry was human waste used as fertilizer. I guess now it's pesticides and who knows what exported from China. (It's not good at all to hear lots of food is imported from China, China has had numerous scandals about food adulteration).

 

On my 3rd day in Thailand on my last trip (2012 or so, I forget) I got violently sick, not sure what from. Typical symptoms, everything inside wanted out the nearest exit ASAP. I just rode it out and started in on sprite and bread after two days. Rest of the trip I was fine.  I'd hate to have to go through that regularly.

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Ignoring the pesticide phobias, it's quite rare to get sick from eating fresh fruit and vegetables anywhere. They ferment when they are off, so it's fairly obvious by taste when they should not be eaten.

Proteins such as fish, shellfish and meat are a different story.  Flies are not seen at the vegetable and fruit stalls at markets; they hang around the meat and fish stalls. Food poisoning almost always comes from those sources. Although I am wondering how on earth rock melons ( cantaloupes ) in Australia have managed to get themselves contaminated with listeria - four deaths so far.

 

The answer to that is quite easy, it is because of the things that brain dead idiots smuggle into the countries. How many travelers wash their shoes to ensure that there is no dirt or residue on them before they enter another country, thus microbes transported into the country.

Washing all fruits and vegetables with BAKIN SODA, or vinagar works for me. 

Yes 

Never been sick in nearly 10 years.

Never had a problem with the food here, but I do stay away from the high end restaurants and hotels, much prefer street food and the small restaurants as their food is a lot fresher because they do not use freezers like the top end do, the street food and small restaurants buy fresh everyday.

you will only die because of pesticides, some of the highest levels in the world here.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

Never had a problem with the food here, but I do stay away from the high end restaurants and hotels, much prefer street food and the small restaurants as their food is a lot fresher because they do not use freezers like the top end do, the street food and small restaurants buy fresh everyday.

 

Exactly what all tourists who know nothing believe.

No offense but you should know more if you stay here since a long time.

 

 

23 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

Washing all fruits and vegetables with BAKIN SODA, or vinagar works for me. 

 

Yes but we have no evidence that it works and I do not believe that pesticides are only on the veg skin.

 

 

4 minutes ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

Exactly what all tourists who know nothing believe.

No offense but you should know more if you stay here since a long time.

 

 

Gee, can you tell me when my non-imm "O" visa was changed over to a tourist visa. I will have to talk with my Thai wife of 6 years and tell her. I do know more but it appears that you do not except to make wrongful assumptions of people. For you information we have a very successful small restaurant and we have never had any problem with anyone including ourselves getting sick from the food except when we went to Bangkok and went to a five star hotel restaurant with friends and 3 of the 8 go sick.

So you do not know what you are talking about when it comes to who and what people are and what visa's they have

16 minutes ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

Yes but we have no evidence that it works and I do not believe that pesticides are only on the veg skin.

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5020377/Baking-powder-removes-pesticides-fruit-vegetables.html