Food Poisoning Becoming A Major Problem

[george]

Food poisoning becoming a major problem

BANGKOK: -- Bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics and mycotoxin, a sort of fungus, are the major concerns for scientists and experts from the European Union and Southeast Asian countries, who were in Bangkok yesterday to discuss food safety issues.

The three-day forum, entitled "EU-Southeast Asia Expert Meeting on Food Quality, Safety and Traceability", was held by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Cirad). About 35 scientists and food experts attended the summit, which was also supported by the European Commission.

"We are working together to find how key issues can be highlighted to tackle food-safety problems," said Prof Sudip K Rakshit, vice-president for research at the AIT. He also co-chaired the forum.

Rakshit said experts from both regions were working together to find new ways to tackle food contamination such as developing new detection methods, traceability, technologies and tools for risk assessment as well as enhancing the understanding of risk perception.

In Southeast Asia, the factor of food quality has become a public-health issue for rural and urban populations, he added. Protein-energy malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, food-borne pathogens and diarrhoea remain major causes of mortality in Southeast Asia.

He explained that the most common source of food poisoning were insufficiently cooked meats, particularly poultry, as well as unpasteurised milk and drinking water.

Apart from resistant bacterial strains, the mycotoxin fungus can contaminate foodstuff like cereal, nuts, coffee, cocoa, grapes, beer, wine, spices and animal feed. Mycotoxin usually develops on plants, either in the field or in storage. The most common complaint from ingesting this toxin is diarrhoea.

The consumption of contaminated food causes roughly three million deaths a year worldwide, and is responsible for 1.5 billion episodes of diarrhoea per year, he said.

Food health problems are also aggravated by rapidly increasing urban populations in most Southeast Asian countries, which is leading to an unprecedented demand for food products. This dramatic rise in demand means an intensification of food production in rural areas, which means farmers are using highly-contaminant chemicals in the form of pesticides, fertilisers and hormones etc.

Then there is the transportation, usually in the form of open vans and motorbikes, that further expose food to contamination. Food is then further exposed to microbial and viral contamination while storage.

Street vendors and food service premises are becoming an essential part of the food-supply system in nearly all Southeast Asian countries, but without strict controls with regards to food preparation, storage and display, these may become another major source of food-borne disease.

-- The Nation 2009-02-25

[PhilHarries]

Apart from resistant bacterial strains, the mycotoxin fungus can contaminate foodstuff like cereal, nuts, coffee, cocoa, grapes, beer, wine, spices and animal feed. Mycotoxin usually develops on plants, either in the field or in storage. The most common complaint from ingesting this toxin is diarrhoea.

This is now going hyper critical! I hope the WHO is taking this very seriously.

On a serious note, considering the number of basic western food hygene regulations that are violated every hour in the various eateries of Thailand it is suprising how infrequently people go down with the Buriram Belly (no offence meant to Buriram ). Most of the people I know who have gone down with the after effectes of bad food have been able, with reasonable certainty, to trace it back to one of the more salubrius eateries often in starred hotels. A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Of course on top of this we have certain government individuals and their associated companies distributing rotten fish and bad milk. I wonder if those instances came up during the discussions?

[MyphuketLife]

A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Could not agree more, my home town has a segment on the news "dirty dinning" where they pick a restruant and show how clean or dirty it is based on health inspections.... It always cracks me up... Even the "dirty" ones are far cleaner than any place I have eaten at in Thailand... One thing that suprises me is that I have only been sick a hand full of times in 3+ years here....

[venturalaw]

Of course food contamination, as will as the murders of Westerners, will all be vanquished as Thailand's image is restored by the introduction of the government's new cocktail.

[Boater]

to be honest, 99.9 per cent of the street side vendors and restaurants that cook the food at 8 am and leave out till lunch would never ever pass a ' European ' food safty test !

[ballpoint]

to be honest, 99.9 per cent of the street side vendors and restaurants that cook the food at 8 am and leave out till lunch would never ever pass a ' European ' food safty test !

Which probably reflects more on the over regulated west than anything.

[Gravelrash]

Having owned a restaurant in the west, the inspections are onerous. Some things are very sound procedures, others just seem to be bureaucrats just making up more regulations, as in many areas, to justify their existence.

For all that some basic hygiene and food handling techniques wouldn't do a lot of harm here, often it is just ignorance by the vendors. Seems to be plenty of bureaucrats here sitting around doing nothing, could be a good lark for some extra tea money non-enforcing some regulations.

[jimbeam1]

Having lived in a Village in Korat for the last year. I am not suprised that food poisoning is becoming a major problem. It is prepared outside using unclean utensils, on unclean surfaces and when ready is laid out uncovered. The only time that a fly is swept away is when it is sitting on a piece of food that someone want to eat. I think even if the schools started a food hygine programe now , it would take at least two generations for it to have any affect. Having said that, I am quite selective of what I eat and I do drink the rain water. But have never had any problems.

jb1

[exexpat]

This topic is difficult. I agree that food contamination is very possible and common here in Thailand, but I am still amazed its not much worse, given the way food is treated. Thais MUST be using some forms of preservation that are not deemed SAFE back home. I know Chinese (who also run the Thai economy) use poisonous forms of food preservation all the time, perennial problems such as formaldehyde in noodles, meats, and tofu, artificial soy sauce with carcinogens (MCPD and 1,3-BCP), and copious use of banned pesticides and fungicides (e.g. methamidophos) on produce, as well as industrial chemical residues. Not to mention the Thai custom of putting hot foods/liquids on plastic bowls/dishes/bags that ooze petrochemicals into your food. (Studies done on this indicate hot food oozes up to 100 times as much petrochemicals as cold food). Don't forget all the dust/soot from the vehicles and random fires and construction here that get into food stalls. Chinese, whether Thai-Chinese or not, will put anything in food to make an extra dollar, case in point, melamine. I am absolutely sure food tampering is done here too in Thailand, because its done in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, and every other Southeast Asian nation, but with such sparse reporting, chaotic environments, and government-business coziness, but its hard to know how bad the problem is. I would LOVE to hear from an independent food safety specialist who isn't paid off by big business here to explain the situation in Thailand, and how we can better protect ourselves here from contaminated food, and specifically which foods have problems. The only thing I've been told is to avoid chicken because they are killed with drugs instead of on a converyor belt like back home. (Though it may not be any better)

With that said, being from the USA, I can't claim that we are any better. Yes maybe we don't use banned pesticides, but we use funky "new" products all the time, like genetically modified foods, synthetic chemicals that aren't rigorously tested, sugar substitutes, teflon, canned food with tons of bisphenol-A, we microwave food in plastic and paper treated with chemicals, and our food chain is nearly all extremely processed. So when a chicken farm that processes 100 million chickens a month gets salmonella, its shipped all over the country. Add to that the American appetite and marketing for junk food and super sized everything, and well it gets quite hard to say that American food is any better for your health than Thai food. That's one difference with Thailand, there are far more farms here and far less processing, much of which is still done by hand and not machines.

Finally you got the question that maybe killing all bacteria and fungus in food isn't always good. Fruits for example produce higher amounts of antioxidants around fungus to counteract it. Also, bacteria is necessary for a healthy gut, but of course the wrong type is not very good. All of this is very complicated and I wish someone could explain in ENGLISH the current situation in Thailand based on scientific testing. (if such info exists, and where it is LACKING)

Edited February 25, 2009 by exexpat

[exexpat]

FOUND A GREAT SITE on Thailand and PESTICIDES.

http://www.communityipm.org/toxictrail/issue1-Industry.htm

[venturalaw]

FOUND A GREAT SITE on Thailand and PESTICIDES.

http://www.communityipm.org/toxictrail/issue1-Industry.htm

Thanks for the link. Really interesting.

[PhilHarries]

FOUND A GREAT SITE on Thailand and PESTICIDES.

http://www.communityipm.org/toxictrail/issue1-Industry.htm

Thanks for the link. Really interesting.

and similtaneously depressing . These multi-national companies "own" influential members of the Thai government and thus, as has been recently demonstrated, can exert real strong influence over agricultural, and other industry, policies and regulations. But they blandly state that they encourage the responsible use of their products. That's like giving away free whisky at the school gates but encouraging the kids to drink it responsibly.

[henryalleman]

Its not only the food stalls on the market who are unhygienic. Just go to any supermarket be it Carfour, Tesco or whatever. Meat, fish and poultry is sold in open counters where you can grab what you like, cooked dishes are also displayed in open counters.

In every department store you can find the Japanese Yam....something who also sell there bread and pastry on open shelf's.

All of this is strictly forbidden in the EU.

And than I not yet mention the horror of Thai markets where the sell meat surrounded by mosquitoes.

Food safety is almost non-existent in Thailand, even do some are trying to improve and the situation is better than 20 years ago.

The article also mention the use of anti-biotic. In the EU its forbidden to use Anti-Bio-tics to cure animals. Even Doctors are urged to use less as less antibiotics as possible due to the risk of resistance.

many times when my stomach is upset because the use of preservation chemicals.

Also the use of hormones is forbidden in the EU, even natural body own hormones are forbidden. One of the reasons why there's a ban on American meat on the EU market.

I know its impossible to change the food safety in Thailand in 1 or 2 years, but the government should campaigning to get the awareness of the consumer to it. They can incorporate it in the popular soap series.

Lucky I got my vaccins against any kind of food infection.

[katana]

...Lucky I got my vaccins against any kind of food infection.

Hi Henry,

What kind of vaccines were those?

[henryalleman]

...Lucky I got my vaccins against any kind of food infection.

Hi Henry,

What kind of vaccines were those?

its a vaccin against TYPHOID FEVER

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo...Fever_g.htm#how

VIVOTIF

oral

17.85 euro

TYPHERIX/TYPHIM VI

single injection

18.69 euro

Edited February 26, 2009 by henryalleman

[mommysboy]

A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Could not agree more, my home town has a segment on the news "dirty dinning" where they pick a restruant and show how clean or dirty it is based on health inspections.... It always cracks me up... Even the "dirty" ones are far cleaner than any place I have eaten at in Thailand... One thing that suprises me is that I have only been sick a hand full of times in 3+ years here....

Me too. But when you're sick you're really sick based on my experience, sufficient to see how weakened people could suffer a heart attack, stroke or toxic shock. Oddly, it's most often been at the so called higher end places as far as I can tell, and I don't think I've ever come a cropper from a noodle stand or similar. My 2 worst experiences were early on at Phuket and Pattaya. I think I've been ill once (proper) in Bangkok despite living here for 5 years.

I don't go along with the 'you get used to it' crowd generally, but on this point they may be partially right.

[dumball]

I have to take the report on pesticides etc to task , I have lived in Cambodia for 3 years , have an extended family who use VERY FEW FERTILISERS on thier crops , they are simply too expensive . When I lived in Thailand (7 years) I suffered from weight loss and several debilitating problems such as Diarreah . I can honestly tell you , I have gained weight and suffer more with constipation than Diarreah , people whom I have helped re-locate have also expressed this lack of health problems . Be it as it may , the proof of the pudding is in the eating , Thai are lazy and take the easy way out , did you not read the report where Australia SELLS thier rice for the COST OF PRODUCTION in Thailand , food for thought ? No , healthy food for your stomach , Thai have a big problem with hygene , right from the start at production and it magnifgies throughout the chain of events . The Vietnamese are the most atrocious users of pesticides , feel lazy ? Do not ask me for a link or six , do as I did and look it up for yourself , might give the gray-matter a work out it desparately requires at this time in your life , use it or lose it , hahaha .

[Robby nz]

And then there is the drinking water, what do they put in these big plastic bottles they sell?

In the soi where we live there are 2 families who sell the big water bottles and we can hear them being filled from the tap from about 2pm every morning untill just before daylight when they go off to sell. What chemicals or whatever do they put in to make it fit? for drinking?

We are fortunate to have a friend who works at a place where they make water purification machines and these things are tested before they are sold by running water through them then testing the water. We get our drinking water from him and it is all stuff that has passed the tests.

[ballpoint]

I have gained weight and suffer more with constipation than Diarreah

Doesn't sound too healthy to me.

people whom I have helped re-locate have also expressed this lack of health problems

So, you're the famous Rohingya smuggler.

[bhoydy]

I agree with you that there is a severe lack of food safety here in Thailand but at the same time no one will force you to eat somewhere that you don't want to. If you have any problem just go somewhere where they have the clean food good taste sign. I have never had any problem except when i've eaten too much spicy food which always turns my stomach, but it's so tasty. On the other hand in the UK for example the food safety is way over the top and having previously worked in the trade, unless your place is completely disgusting there won't be any repercussions. When we had the food safety people come round they would go around and check the place out. If there were any points they weren't happy with they would let us now and there would be a date made when they would return to check up on the points. So you had an exact day when everything had to be sorted out after which everything would go back to normal. I have worked in places from McDonalds to fine dining restaurants and in all of them i have seen wrong doings but they don't get picked up on. The worst case i ever saw was when working in McDonalds many years ago as a young nipper. The manager who ran the night shift there used to spit and do other things to the burgers of drive thru customers who were either Asian or supported the football team that he despised in Glasgow. Safe to say i left shortly after that. Point is no matter where you are you don't really know what your getting, but at least here you can always see what they're doing with your food.

[ballpoint]

When you read reports about the addition of various waste products into food in the west, it beats me how anyone can complain about a bit of dirt or a few insects on a Thai food stall.

"SYDNEY (Reuters) - A bitter row has broken out between one of Sydney's largest tourist pubs and a family of five who accused chefs of serving human excrement in their gelato after they complained about noise during a football match."

"A family who claim they were served tainted gelato at a Sydney pub say they are not surprised a sample of the dessert tested positive for faecal matter." - The Age

[colibra]

I get mild food poisoning about once a month eating at the street vendors carts. but no problem I just keep a bottle of sodium chlorite around and take a few drops when i notice the rumblings starting and feel better within a few hours. This is usually followed by a rather forceful evacutation the next day.

[dumball]

I have gained weight and suffer more with constipation than Diarreah

Doesn't sound too healthy to me.

people whom I have helped re-locate have also expressed this lack of health problems

So, you're the famous Rohingya smuggler.

The only good thing that can be said about Diarriah is it helps stave off the occurance of colon cancer , at my age and taking no prescription medication , my health is fine thank you .

SSssshhhhheeeeeee!!!! , I don't sell Roti anymore , changed to that spiney fruit Knok , more money in it , use a cart made up from scrap bits of wood I found on building sites , now some cops give me hand-outs and scraps of thier left over lunch SShhhhheeee , I want to keep them guessing .

[ballpoint]

I have gained weight and suffer more with constipation than Diarreah

Doesn't sound too healthy to me.

people whom I have helped re-locate have also expressed this lack of health problems

So, you're the famous Rohingya smuggler.

The only good thing that can be said about Diarriah is it helps stave off the occurance of colon cancer , at my age and taking no prescription medication , my health is fine thank you .

SSssshhhhheeeeeee!!!! , I don't sell Roti anymore , changed to that spiney fruit Knok , more money in it , use a cart made up from scrap bits of wood I found on building sites , now some cops give me hand-outs and scraps of thier left over lunch SShhhhheeee , I want to keep them guessing .

Nice to see some people here on TV still have a sense of humour. Good on ya.

[Sisaketmike]

Apart from resistant bacterial strains, the mycotoxin fungus can contaminate foodstuff like cereal, nuts, coffee, cocoa, grapes, beer, wine, spices and animal feed. Mycotoxin usually develops on plants, either in the field or in storage. The most common complaint from ingesting this toxin is diarrhoea.

This is now going hyper critical! I hope the WHO is taking this very seriously.

On a serious note, considering the number of basic western food hygene regulations that are violated every hour in the various eateries of Thailand it is suprising how infrequently people go down with the Buriram Belly (no offence meant to Buriram ). Most of the people I know who have gone down with the after effectes of bad food have been able, with reasonable certainty, to trace it back to one of the more salubrius eateries often in starred hotels. A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Of course on top of this we have certain government individuals and their associated companies distributing rotten fish and bad milk. I wonder if those instances came up during the discussions?

Welcome to Thailand.......watch out where the Huskies go..don't you eat that yellow snow. (F.Zappa) " A lot of places you have eaten would be closed by UK health inspectors? ' Now I've got a question. If everything here would be like in the UK, or other similar countries, why are people happy to live in Thailand? Anyway every day fish and chips is a kind of boring, or? The easiest thing for those who might think they've got a problem is to go back where it's clean and different.

[dumball]

Apart from resistant bacterial strains, the mycotoxin fungus can contaminate foodstuff like cereal, nuts, coffee, cocoa, grapes, beer, wine, spices and animal feed. Mycotoxin usually develops on plants, either in the field or in storage. The most common complaint from ingesting this toxin is diarrhoea.

This is now going hyper critical! I hope the WHO is taking this very seriously.

On a serious note, considering the number of basic western food hygene regulations that are violated every hour in the various eateries of Thailand it is suprising how infrequently people go down with the Buriram Belly (no offence meant to Buriram ). Most of the people I know who have gone down with the after effectes of bad food have been able, with reasonable certainty, to trace it back to one of the more salubrius eateries often in starred hotels. A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Of course on top of this we have certain government individuals and their associated companies distributing rotten fish and bad milk. I wonder if those instances came up during the discussions?

Welcome to Thailand.......watch out where the Huskies go..don't you eat that yellow snow. (F.Zappa) " A lot of places you have eaten would be closed by UK health inspectors? ' Now I've got a question. If everything here would be like in the UK, or other similar countries, why are people happy to live in Thailand? Anyway every day fish and chips is a kind of boring, or? The easiest thing for those who might think they've got a problem is to go back where it's clean and different.

Yet another 'Thaiwise' handing out the 'You can leave now' certificates of virtual freedom . You may just learn to eat those words in a not-so-long-time-ahead , have you not noticed the exodus has already started , one that you can assuredly see turn into more of an avalanche before your very eyes . Out of work Thai returning to villages , expats changing to more acceptable neigbouring countries or returning to the homeland , outside money investments on the decline , exports dropping like a lead balloon , buisinesses closing down , the natives getting restless .

No , this is not a mythical painted picture of gloom and doom , this is the reality of the global turn down , denied by Thai , but coming to roost in your backyard as in the rest of the world , get used to it , it was inevitable .

[henryalleman]

Apart from resistant bacterial strains, the mycotoxin fungus can contaminate foodstuff like cereal, nuts, coffee, cocoa, grapes, beer, wine, spices and animal feed. Mycotoxin usually develops on plants, either in the field or in storage. The most common complaint from ingesting this toxin is diarrhoea.

This is now going hyper critical! I hope the WHO is taking this very seriously.

On a serious note, considering the number of basic western food hygene regulations that are violated every hour in the various eateries of Thailand it is suprising how infrequently people go down with the Buriram Belly (no offence meant to Buriram ). Most of the people I know who have gone down with the after effectes of bad food have been able, with reasonable certainty, to trace it back to one of the more salubrius eateries often in starred hotels. A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

Of course on top of this we have certain government individuals and their associated companies distributing rotten fish and bad milk. I wonder if those instances came up during the discussions?

Welcome to Thailand.......watch out where the Huskies go..don't you eat that yellow snow. (F.Zappa) " A lot of places you have eaten would be closed by UK health inspectors? ' Now I've got a question. If everything here would be like in the UK, or other similar countries, why are people happy to live in Thailand? Anyway every day fish and chips is a kind of boring, or? The easiest thing for those who might think they've got a problem is to go back where it's clean and different.

Or cook your dinner at home like my wife does

Edited March 1, 2009 by henryalleman

[anothertorres]

A lot of the places I have eaten would be closed down by UK public health inspectors without them having to get out of their car.

quoted for truth.