Chinese influencer’s food poisoning sparks Thai food hygiene row

[webfact]

 

Chinese netizens criticised Thai food as “unclean” after a Chinese influencer suffered food poisoning after eating at a night market in Thailand and issued a warning to his followers on Weibo.

 

The Chinese food blogger, Liu Yu Xin, also known as Jason, posted a video of himself enjoying food at a night market in Thailand on his Weibo account. Most of the food he tried was made of raw ingredients like marinated raw crabs, raw shrimps, raw squid in spicy dipping sauce, and jumping shrimp salad with little living shrimps.

 

Another video Jason shared showed him suffering from diarrhoea and food poisoning. He revealed to his followers that this was the first time marinated raw food caused this illness.

Jason warned his followers to be careful when eating this type of food in Thailand because the country’s hot weather makes dangerous bacteria grow faster. He added that the cost of treatment in a Thai hospital was also expensive as he paid nearly 20,000 baht.

Many Chinese netizens shared their experiences of suffering from food poisoning after eating in Thailand, and some shared their opinions that Thai food was not as clean as food in China. They commented…

 

“I visited Thailand more than ten times and did not dare to try this kind of food.”

 

“Honestly, Thai food is not as hygienic as food in China. Marinated raw food in Thailand is not recommended due to bugs and bacteria together with the country’s temperature.”

 

“My son had a fever and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea after drinking watermelon juice.”

 

“Another food blogger I follow also went crazy after eating raw marinated food in Thailand.”

 

“A Thai tour guide in Bangkok recommended me not to eat raw seafood because Bangkok is far from the sea, so the seafood ingredients are not that fresh. I went to a night market as well but did not try them.”

 

“Last time I ate seafood in Thailand, I got an infection and inflammation in the digestive system. So scary. Travel insurance is a must. No more eating out.”

 

The Thai Facebook page, Ai Zhong, expressed an opinion that Jason consumed several raw dishes at the same time, which could have increased the risk of suffering from food poisoning.

 

The page administrator also disagreed that Thai food was unclean, saying that every country has both clean and unclean food and that visitors should be aware of this before eating.

 

by Petch Petpailin 

Photo via Weibo/ 刘雨鑫JASON

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-12

 

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[worgeordie]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

Most of the food he tried was made of raw ingredients like marinated raw crabs, raw shrimps, raw squid in spicy dipping sauce, and jumping shrimp salad with little living shrimps.

Raw seafood , Plus the heat lately , no surprise he got food poison 

 

regards Worgeordie

[actonion]

Chinese complaining about bad hygiene?,    ....  that's the Pot calling the Kettle black sure

[brianthainess]

Plonker for eating raw seafood, plonker for not having insurance.  

[rexpotter]

Guy sure needs a lot of attention. Better bring his mommy on his next trip to watch over him.

[lordblackader]

Crticism from the country that gave the world gutter oil.... 

[rexpotter]

1 minute ago, lordblackader said:

Crticism from the country that gave the world gutter oil.... 

I spent a year there, horrific sanitation.

[bob smith]

Thai food standards do indeed leave a lot to be desired.

 

However, given what this fella had for his tea it’s no wonder he got sick!

 

dirty git.

 

much love!

BOB.

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, rexpotter said:

I spent a year there, horrific sanitation.

Yes I paid a few visits and thought the same...... 

[marin]

Eating raw seafood in an outdoor market with temperatures of 30 for a low and 40+ for a high for over 3 weeks. Not the smartest thing in the world to do. Tells more of the influencers intellect than getting food poisoning. I wonder if he knows 2+2=4. 

[rexpotter]

They will eat any living thing, anything. They steal the transformer oi from the power poles and use it for deep frying.

[Ohyesuare]

Musts hurt being criticized by a country that uses gutter oil and other disgusting tactics.

 

Just to add, I can't recall one time I've had food poisoning in the 15 years I've been here on and off and I've eaten raw crab, raw shrimp, you name it.

[rexpotter]

Can we have a good China bashing for a while here? Went into what appeared to be a regular supermarket, and thought great, name brand food everywhere, Ritz Crackers, Spam (health food in China) etc etc. Got home and it was all fake. hahaha. Fights were commonplace in the big store, old people good old communists going at it, they were old pros. Fighting for the best fruit. After a while I thought why not have some fun and I started driving my shopping cart into the legs of the other people to fight my way in for fresh fruit.

 

Thailand has the cleanest street food anywhere in the world I have ever been.

 

We have other communists here who also have special and unique social skills.

[petedk]

50 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Plonker for eating raw seafood, plonker for not having insurance.  

 

Aren't tourists required to have travel insurance or medical insurance before they can enter Thailand?  Maybe that rule was never implemented.

[MarkBR]

Have had more diarrhoea  in China than in Thailand.  Lived in China for 6 years, now living in northern Thailand.  Completely diasgree that one country has worse food than the other in terms of hygiene.

Just have to be careful what you eat.  Raw seafood tends to be higher risk than cooked or fermented foods

[foreverlomsak]

1 hour ago, rexpotter said:

Guy sure needs a lot of attention. Better bring his mommy on his next trip to watch over him.

Better still stay at home and eat risky Chinese food, than come to Thailand to eat risky Thai food and then complain that the food HE chose gave him problems.

[ikke1959]

Raw food an very hot weather... what more do you need for food poisoning?? The influencer should know better. Thailand is maybe the only safe country to eat from foodstalles in Sout East Asia, as in Europe we are told...

[fondue zoo]

dumbass

[seajae]

hahahahahaha, this coming from the country that regularly cause major health out breaks  and virus, shows how bad these people really are and refusal to accept the truth that the country is basically a open air toilet with extreme eating habits, bats anyone

[Ohyesuare]

1 hour ago, petedk said:

 

Aren't tourists required to have travel insurance or medical insurance before they can enter Thailand?  Maybe that rule was never implemented.

 

I believe that was only during COVID, or only enforced then and for some visa types, proof of health insurance is required.

[Excogitator]

Having travelled in both Thailand and China, I must say I had far more issues with food and hygiene there than here in Thailand, including a severe food poisoning..

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Ohyesuare said:

Just to add, I can't recall one time I've had food poisoning in the 15 years I've been here on and off and I've eaten raw crab, raw shrimp, you name it.

 

I wouldn't make a special appointment for it, but next time you see the doc, you may wanna look into your liver.  Low probability, maybe.  But raw "sea"food (with a lot coming from polluted lakes and rivers) can cause liver flukes, leading to an elevated risk of liver cancer in Thailand.

 

[Ohyesuare]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I wouldn't make a special appointment for it, but next time you see the doc, you may wanna look into your liver.  Low probability, maybe.  But raw "sea"food (with a lot coming from polluted lakes and rivers) can cause liver flukes, leading to an elevated risk of liver cancer in Thailand.

 

 

I doubt any parasite could survive in my frequently alcohol soaked liver but I appreciate the concern. I'm sure the drinking or vaping or infrequent exercise and sedentary lifestyle will get me first before any parasite does. 

[rexpotter]

39 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I wouldn't make a special appointment for it, but next time you see the doc, you may wanna look into your liver.  Low probability, maybe.  But raw "sea"food (with a lot coming from polluted lakes and rivers) can cause liver flukes, leading to an elevated risk of liver cancer in Thailand.

 

On that issue one must keep in mind that the fish oil which is in everything here is harvested from the gulf of Thailand, squid. We all know what squid eat and flourish on.

[impulse]

24 minutes ago, rexpotter said:

On that issue one must keep in mind that the fish oil which is in everything here is harvested from the gulf of Thailand, squid. We all know what squid eat and flourish on.

 

Good point, but I was thinking more along these lines:

 

Raw fish with spiced salad koi pla is a favourite dish in Thailand. But each year, thousands of people are infected with Opisthorchis viverrini, a liver fluke parasite transmitted to humans through raw or undercooked fish. Thailand has the world's highest incidence of cholangiocarcinoma a fatal form of liver cancer associated with O. viverrini. In some areas, nearly 85% of the population hosts the parasite.

 

https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/research-in-action/reducing-liver-fluke-transmission-northeastern-thailand

 

85% sounds pretty scary...  And I doubt foreigners are immune.

 

Edit:  And IIRC, there's another nasty disease that's associated with the raw freshwater crabs that you see at a lot of street vendors.

 

[BarraMarra]

A few iv'e met mostly Thai up in Udon seem to get food poisoning a lot up in Udon Thani from eating shellfish mainly Tiger prawns. I Suspect these are transported from Bangkok wholesalers in refridgerated wagons.

However they will cetainly already be dead and if not frozen quickly before transporting they run the risk of going off quicly in the temperatures here in Thailand. Probabably half thawed out before putting them on the shelf or in the market where ice from the tap water will be thrown over them thinking there fresh. You dont know how fresh they are once they arrive up in the North. Never buy Shellfish dead always look for live fresh shelfish.

[quake]

4 hours ago, actonion said:

Chinese complaining about bad hygiene?,    ....  that's the Pot calling the Kettle black sure

 

Yes.

 

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Another video Jason shared showed him suffering from diarrhoea

anything for "likes"

[1tent42]

2 hours ago, Excogitator said:

Having travelled in both Thailand and China, I must say I had far more issues with food and hygiene there than here in Thailand, including a severe food poisoning..

As a counterpoint, I lived in China for a few years, Philippines too.  I’ve eaten a fair share of local foods. 

 

The only time I suffered severe food poisoning is in Thailand. 
 

I avoid street food now. 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The Chinese food blogger, Liu Yu Xin, also known as Jason, posted a video of himself enjoying food at a night market in Thailand on his Weibo account. Most of the food he tried was made of raw ingredients like marinated raw crabs, raw shrimps, raw squid in spicy dipping sauce, and jumping shrimp salad with little living shrimps.

The guy was asking for it....