Cross-contamination

[Deserted]

Hello all. Does the trerm cross-contamination exist in Thai? The context is food, I was in subway earlier watching someone handle raw meat and then go onto handle bread and vegetables without changing her gloves. I did manage to explain to her that she shouldn't do that but when she asked why, I couldn't explain myself properly.

[meadish_sweetball]

Hmm, there most likely is a scientific term, but if you want to explain something to a street vendor you would be much better off using as simple language as possible.

I would try with 'chuea rohk jaak neua dip nii, dtit phak kab khanom bpang daai' - i.e. 'bacteria from the raw meat can contaminate the vegetables and bread' (sorry, no Thai on this machine)...

...or 'thung mue saamaad nam chuea rohk jaak nuea dip bpai dtit phak kab khanom bpang (thii ja dteup dtoh rueay rueay jon khon aow bpai kin loei thawng sia)'

= The gloves may transfer the bacteria from the raw meat to the vegetables and bread (and then grow gradually until a person eats them and gets an upset stomach).

[Deserted]

Thanks. As mentioned though, it was in Subway, where they do have standards of handling raw meats. I don't usually say anything if I see it on the street but when you go to a place that prides itself on being a healthier alternative to other fast food joints, it can be a bit annoying.

[meadish_sweetball]

You're right, I missed that part.

[TheChiefJustice]

Meadish - what is the "dtit phak" you use here? Is it ติดปาก? I am not familiar with the use of ติดปาก in the context of contamination. Or perhaps it is something else. For contamination, I would use the word ปนเปื้อน.

[mangkorn]

Meadish - what is the "dtit phak" you use here? Is it ติดปาก? I am not familiar with the use of ติดปาก in the context of contamination. Or perhaps it is something else. For contamination, I would use the word ปนเปื้อน.

The phak would be vegetables.

[meadish_sweetball]

With "phak" I was referring to 'vegetables' (phaw phueng, mai han aakaad, kaw kai).

I mixed two transcription standards there, sorry about that. Should be either "tit phak" or "dtit pak" depending on which system you prefer (or even 'u' to represent mai han aakaad, although I'm not too fond of those transriptions).

ปนเปื้อน is a possibility (it was also in my Oxford River Books). I chose the words I believed would be most transparent. I have not seen ปนเปื้อน in context much before, but it seems to suggest 'being soiled/dirty through mixing' rather than 'infected' which I thought would be a better description.

It's possible though that this is the technically correct term for 'cross-contamination' and should not be taken as literally as I did.

[TheChiefJustice]

Thanks, Meadish. I am not at all familiar with transliterations, hence my misunderstanding. ปนเปื้อน is correct when speaking of contamination by bacteria etc. For example, คนจะรับเชื้อนี้จากการรับประทานอาหารหรือน้ำดื่มที่ปนเปื้อนเชื้อโรค คนที่เป็นโรคจะขับถ่ายเชื้ออกทางอุจาระ เชื้อนี้อาจจะปนเปื้อนในน้ำตามธรรมชาติ หรืออาจจะปนเปื้อนอาหาร explains how one contracts typhoid fever. However, on second thought, perhaps your formulation would be easier for most people to understand.

Edited August 8, 2007 by TheChiefJustice

[DurianChips]

Subway in Bangkok has raw meat? For what?

[Rikker]

Right--wouldn't any meat in Subway be cooked already?

[fxm88]

Hello all. Does the trerm cross-contamination exist in Thai? The context is food, I was in subway earlier watching someone handle raw meat and then go onto handle bread and vegetables without changing her gloves. I did manage to explain to her that she shouldn't do that but when she asked why, I couldn't explain myself properly.

Does the term "germ theory of disease" exist in Thai?

[jayhech]

My bf tried to point this out to a staff of Au bon pain in soi 24 (Sukhumvit) when she wasn't wearing gloves and using meat knife for every purposes, and she was perplexed (face-lost, offended, no-clued) by the comment and my bf just gave up trying to explain why it's a better idea for her to put on gloves when preparing food in a restaurant. He bought the sandwich and chucked it in the bin (he knows it's not good to waste that sandwish but he would rather waste that sandwich than his money and time "well" spent in a hospital trying to cure food poisoning). While on another occasion we went to another Au bon pain we saw them all had gloves on. That gave us some assurance of hygiene (and no negative consequence from that meal) but I guess we all take risk when eating out anywhere. Being a Thai I'm quite tolerant to bacteria comes with food but my bf from a cleaner environment where hygiene in restaurants is very important otherwise if found with any hygienic risk it can be ordered to close temporarily or close down for good, he is quite sensitive to a different protocal of food preparing and storing here. I'm not sure if there's legal requirements for restaurants in Thailand in terms of hygiene but practically it doesn't look so. I'm not complaining because I can eat out at any street vendors (with a closer look before I sit down on that steel or plastic chair though, I should be sceptical sometimes, having suffered from food poisoning a few times actually), but for many people who have sensitive stomach it can be difficult.

[DavidHouston]

Because this is a language forum, after all, I thought I might add a quick note to FXM88's rhetorical question. Just as one might expect, Germ Theory is "ทฤษฎีเชื้อโรค".

[LookSaMoon]

Most Thai dont use gloves when cook or prepare food

as we hardly to get sick of nid noi jerm in food.

But it's diff with farang and that shef might dont know about this fact.

[Farma]

The wife says cross contamination is ปนเปื้อน bpon bpêuan