Increase in food poisoning in 2023 to 2024 - supporting statistics?

[kwilco]

It seems on the social media about THailand that there are more and more people getting food poisoning whilst on holiday in Thailand. Some of them requiring hospitalisation.

 

I visit visited Thailand in 1994 and lived here for over 20 years - to this day I have contracted some form of tummy upset 3 times.

The first was shellfish, the second was salmon a western restaurant and the third was unidentified but serious food faeces contamination - however over a period of  30 years I would say that is not  statistical outlier for any country.

 

So what (if anything) has changed? -  Is the country losing a battle against hygiene whilst accepting ever higher concentrations of tourist in te mai tourist centres?

 

Are there any statistics to clarify the situation?

 

We all know how to get sick tummies in Thailand and we all know it has (until now?) been relatively safe.

So can anyone come up with an evidence based comment on the situation

(please no anecdotal or apocryphal stories!)

[Hummin]

Also had 3 serous food poisonings in about 20 years, but not since 2017 now. Knock on wood. 

 

I do not think the hygine situation have changed much, and contimation between food happens every day, so better eat places you think are ok, and not think to much about it

[Hummin]

and if an restaurant is empty, especially in the morning hours, I do not eat there, and if it is crowdy, I always believe everything they have, is in use, and less bacterias as long everything is fried and cooked 

[Sheryl]

I think what has changed is the proliferation of social media. ..and what people post there. 

 

[Lorry]

I had more food poisonings this year (3) than in the last 20 years.

What's changed? 

1. I got old.

2. I still like street food. But the stuff that, 20 years ago, used to be regular food for most people here, and was reasonably clean,  is now clearly (in Bangkok) a very low-class rarity. One coconut sweet I bought was clearly rotten,  I threw it away (saved me from a 4th food poisoning this year).

City Thais nowadays eat at Pepper Lunch, Fuji, Chesters and all the other crappy "food" joints, just look at Terminal 21 or Emquartier. 

[kwilco]

3 hours ago, Sheryl said:

I think what has changed is the proliferation of social media. ..and what people post there. 

 

So th level is the same but reporting is higher? I agree this is a possibility which is why I asked if anyone knew of statistical evidence,

 

I suppose anecdotal responses were inevitable but really don't shine a light on anything. 

 

I suspect, if there is any truth in this that it is a result of the huge numbers of tourists being inflicted on just the main tourist areas and the general infrastructure is being strained under the pressure.

 

I would be nice to know though as THailand has for decades been a relatively safe place to eat just about anything.

[BangkokReady]

4 hours ago, kwilco said:

So can anyone come up with an evidence based comment on the situation

(please no anecdotal or apocryphal stories!)

 

I notice that every comment so far seems to be anecdotal, so I will try to throw in some speculation (based on evidence).

 

Thailand had an issue a two or three years ago where people were forced to put up food prices.  In some situations, this was for the first time possibly in decades.  It was generally about 5-10 baht per dish, but it seemed like people were extremely apprehensive about it.  It also seems that some food sellers (and this is a little anecdotal) chose to reduce portions, rather than increase prices. 

 

Based on the above, it's not unreasonable to suppose that some food sellers and restaurateurs decided to cut corners in other areas.  Perhaps lower quality ingredients, or keeping products past their "use-by date".  Furthermore, given that tourism also took a hit a few years ago, it's possible that it took a couple of years to become an issue that people thought enough of to post on social media (not that that is a particularly high bar).

 

Just my opinion.

[kwilco]

4 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

I notice that every comment so far seems to be anecdotal, so I will try to throw in some speculation (based on evidence).

 

Thailand had an issue a two or three years ago where people were forced to put up food prices.  In some situations, this was for the first time possibly in decades.  It was generally about 5-10 baht per dish, but it seemed like people were extremely apprehensive about it.  It also seems that some food sellers (and this is a little anecdotal) chose to reduce portions, rather than increase prices. 

 

Based on the above, it's not unreasonable to suppose that some food sellers and restaurateurs decided to cut corners in other areas.  Perhaps lower quality ingredients, or keeping products past their "use-by date".  Furthermore, given that tourism also took a hit a few years ago, it's possible that it took a couple of years to become an issue that people thought enough of to post on social media (not that that is a particularly high bar).

 

Just my opinion.

 

Seems to be the first comment based on any analytical reasoning. Taking this a bit further - I suspect if there is an increase in may be that the extra tourists are being catered for by cutting corners too and businesses which are cash strapped are doing whatever they can to maximise returns.

 

For decades, Thailand's risks of food poisoning have remained. constant and low - If the is an increase it represents a change which personal anecdotes don't contribute to our undrrstanding

[seajae]

I have suffered from food poisoning a few times while travelling around Thailand, little country places have caused the worst cases while city shops havent been as bad while street food can be a gamble,  We usually only eat at places where locals tend to eat when travelling although sometimes you dont have a lot of options. From what I have noticed it would appear that the quality of the ingredients has dropped and the way it is stored but there are some shops where they do not like the idea of throwing away older or suspect food past the use by. While the majority of shops do the right thing some do not want to lose out on any profit but for me the cases have not increased greatly

 

[kwilco]

Why do you think this change has occurred? 

Are you getting sick more often?

 

I used to travel frequently throughout Thailand. The only time I got sick was at home.

 

If there has been a change it would seem to me to be post covid. This is not my personal experience.... I just notice a plethora of mentions mostly on social media.

[Sheryl]

There is no way to know since most cases of food poisoning are not treated at government hospitals and even when they are, those statistics do nto s[earate out food poisoning from other types of gastroenterisits.

 

increased numbers of tourists alone could account for this. That and people deciding it is worth mentioning on social media. This tends to follow what others do. Someone reads a social media account of someone else's food poisoning and decides to post their own.

 

I re4lly would not read too much into this.

Food poisoning cases here follow seasonal trends and always increase in the very hot season, for obvious reasons (food spoils more quickly).

 

 

[NativeBob]

Uncontrolled disposal of antibiotics obviously should lead to development of super-germs. Scientists have been talking about it for [hm] decades? 

That should [again obviously] lead to higher poisoning rate. No need to google for stats, can apply common sense.

Personally we almost never eat anything we didn't cook ourselves.

Except Pizza and Whopper.(Mia culpa)

[kwilco]

4 hours ago, kwilco said:

Why do you think this change has occurred? 

Are you getting sick more often?

 

I used to travel frequently throughout Thailand. The only time I got sick was at home.

 

If there has been a change it would seem to me to be post covid. This is not my personal experience.... I just notice a plethora of mentions mostly on social media.

“There is no way to know since most cases of food poisoning are not treated at government hospitals “

Stats are usually commissioned and gathered from more than one source – for instance insurance companies and are commissioned by various bodies - .e.g. - Ministry of Public Health, many Hospitals and Health Facilities e.g. - Public and private hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities report cases of food poisoning they treat, contributing to the data collected by the MoPH and its associated bodies.

Also Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA), Bureau of Epidemiology, Provincial Health Offices, WHO,

 

 

“those statistics do nto s[earate out food poisoning from other types of gastroenterisits [sic]”

As the reports I am seeing are largely from laypersons, it doesn’t really matter if it is food poisoning or types of gastroenteritis as bacterial, viral and parasitic may be the causes – but if there is an increase in anything then the public need to be aware

 

“increased numbers of tourists alone could account for this” – But you miss the point – the numbers are in fact LOWER than before Covid, they are concentrated into smaller areas, but the rise – if there is one – would an increase per unit over previous figures.

 

I have already considered the “mass-histeria” effect of social media which is why I’d like to see statistics rather than just guess

“Food poisoning cases here follow seasonal trends and always increase in the very hot season, for obvious reasons (food spoils more quickl” –   you seem to miss the point – the effects of climate in Thailand have been the same for decades – what I’m trying to find out is if there has been a CHANGE in the circumstances. It also may not be just tourists, it could be the population in general cause by the industrialisation, transportation and processing within the food industry.

Edited November 11 by kwilco

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, NativeBob said:

Uncontrolled disposal of antibiotics obviously should lead to development of super-germs. Scientists have been talking about it for [hm] decades? 

That should [again obviously] lead to higher poisoning rate. No need to google for stats, can apply common sense.

Personally we almost never eat anything we didn't cook ourselves.

Except Pizza and Whopper.(Mia culpa)

I doubt if it would change the rate - antibiotics are not used in every case and only some of the bacteria would be "superbugs" - this would lead to a "tip of the iceberg" situation of increased hospitalisations and majot =r insurance claims..As pointed out about they may not even be food poisoning" - a rather vague term - it could be other forms of gastroenteritis.

[kwilco]

I'm actually asking two questions.

 

Is there a demonstrable increase in "tummy upsets"?

and secondly - Why?

[transam]

Only had bad food poisoning once, on a trip to Phuket, slap-up Lobster meal....😬

Went to the local Pharmacy, she raised her eyebrows and smiled, with the medication in easy reach...

 

I never eat street food, rarely eat out, except one Chinese place that is always packed, never a problem from there......

 

Sanitation is poor here, washing hands is not high on anyone's agenda, fridges, coolers...Hmmmm.

 

Oh, never a prob from McDonald's, well trained and fully equipped, though I only have a couple of Big macs, perhaps once every couple of months...

[NativeBob]

21 minutes ago, kwilco said:

antibiotics are not used in every case and only some of the bacteria

However antibiotics are being dispensed like M&Ms at birthday party. w/o and w prescription. 

 

[impulse]

 

The captured comment isn't mine.  That's just the way the link worked...

Edited November 11 by impulse

[john donson]

easy, don't eat street food... black oil fried over and over, dirty dishes washed how? with dirty rag and dirty water, bweurk

 

[kwilco]

42 minutes ago, NativeBob said:

However antibiotics are being dispensed like M&Ms at birthday party. w/o and w prescription. 

 

Certainly antibiotics are overused on a world scale and some food poisoning bacteria are now resistant -  but I think that would make headlines in itself if this was the case.

[kwilco]

4 minutes ago, john donson said:

easy, don't eat street food... black oil fried over and over, dirty dishes washed how? with dirty rag and dirty water, bweurk

 

Agin this is a constant factor from BEFORE ovid so should account for an increase in upset stomachs - just a constant source.Unless there is a dramatic increase in consumption of street food or a sudden change in hygiene practices.

[kwilco]

9 hours ago, NativeBob said:

However antibiotics are being dispensed like M&Ms at birthday party. w/o and w prescription. 

 

 

Most of food production in Thailand is controlled by single family companies – they are often very secretive or at least avoid the glare of publicity.

 

This was in the news today.

 

Thai Union Group, the world's leading seafood producer, has broken years of silence and low profile to announce a major transformation plan, Strategy 2030, aimed at thriving over the next seven years.

 

At a press conference on Monday, Thiraphong Chansiri, president and chief executive officer of Thai Union Group, outlined this ambitious roadmap, which aims to boost net sales to US$7 billion by 2030 from $3.9 billion in 2024.

 

If this lot started cutting corners to increase profits, it would affect the entire country.

[Sheryl]

bickering/flaming posts have been removed alone with replies to same

[kwilco]

On 11/11/2024 at 12:31 PM, john donson said:

easy, don't eat street food... black oil fried over and over, dirty dishes washed how? with dirty rag and dirty water, bweurk

 

People have been eating street food here for years and Thailand had a reputation for relatively low incidence of food poisoning - what may be different now is an INCREASE in incidents so the eating of streetfood is very unlikely to be a factor in this.On a personal note, I lived on an almost exclusive diet of street food and chwap restaurants for 20 twenty years without any cases of illness from them

[Sheryl]

Actually street food that is cooked on the spot and served right after cooking is pretty dafe. Certainly more so than restaurant buffets.

 

It is food that has been sitting out for a while that one needs to be wary of.  Especially on hot days. 

 

 

[degrub]

14 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Actually street food that is cooked on the spot and served right after cooking is pretty safe. Certainly more so than restaurant buffets.

 

It is food that has been sitting out for a while that one needs to be wary of.  Especially on hot days. 

 

 

As long as the perishable meats and such were stored and handled properly, true.  Ate plenty of street cart food while i worked there. Never got sick.

[kwilco]

5 hours ago, degrub said:

As long as the perishable meats and such were stored and handled properly, true.  Ate plenty of street cart food while i worked there. Never got sick.

Bacteria normally settles on the surface of foods - so if cooked at high temperatures - of the grill or wok, any bacteria with be killed.

Western buffets are just bacterial gardens. Maybe increased numbers at those hotel buffets is to blame? - and lets not forget airline food.