Do You Wash Your Veggies In Tap Water?

[californiabeachboy]

I just returned from my third trip to Thailand, and there will be many more (I hope). I have never gotten sick, and I have traveled a bit so I believe my immune system is pretty good.

The one thing I miss when I go to Thailand is fresh vegetables, such at tomatoes, greens, peas etc. because I was told to stay away from them. I want to do some more of my own cooking while there. so my questions are:

1. Should I wash those veggies in bottled water, or can I use tap water? It is such a pain to wash everything in bottled water. I am not looking for guarantees here, because we all get sick on ocassion, but looking for general advice.

2. If I put greens and maybe carrots in a stir fry, does it matter whether I washed them in tap or bottled water?

I will be staying in major cities, not rural areas. Any advice from those who love to eat veggies in Thailand would be appreciated.

Thanks

[afarang]

For 20 years ,I have been washing in tap water.Origin has been rain water, collected on an "ong" ,later from our town water supply. Perfectly O.K., All sources.I have also been cleaning my teeth in tap water for the same period of time.

[QED]

^^Agree with all above, but only 5 years for me.

The common concensus seems to be that the tap water is safe to drink, it just doesn't taste very nice. Mine also can be quite dirty from time to time, normally after the supply is cut and then reconnected (quite a regular occurrence in my neck of the woods)!

[MTH]

Number 2 is easy, whether you rinse it in tap or bottled water, it doesn’t really matter as long as you cook it.

As for your first question, I guess it depends on the quality of your local tap water and your resilience.

I always rinse my fruit and vegies in tap water. Never had a problem, that I can relate to doing so, so far.

[Nawtier]

We bathe our vegetables in Evian water only prior to slaughter.

[afarang]

I have also used bore water. tried drinking it to see if it was potable . It is ,but not a nice taste, has a lot of iron in it. But perfectly potable

[californiabeachboy]

Thanks for the answers. Makes me feel a bit more comfortable. I did notice that the posts talked about "my area" Would the answers be the same if we were talking about Bangkok? That is probably where I will be spending much of my time.

Cheers.

[jfchandler]

I accept the comments from other members above, but I'm not sure they're very meaningful.

If you look into the subject the OP raised, you'll see that pesticides -- which are widely overused here and probably with some chemicals not allowed in other countries -- can inhabit BOTH the surface and the interior of vegetables, depending on the particular vegetable.

So if you're worried about washing off dirt and dust, etc. off the outside of your veggies, then decent tap water would be fine.

But surface washing, with tap water or Evian for that matter, doesn't do anything for the problems with pesticide contamination that have, among other things, caused the EU lately to threaten banning a variety of Thai produce imports because of them having high levels of banned pesticides.

Those aren't necessarily the kinds of things that would make one sick immediately upon eating, unless the chemical level was very high. But given we're talking about everyday food items, it becomes a longer term chemical/pesticide exposure issue and the negative health effects that can result...

And ultimately, the biggest problem is, there's no way I know of in Thailand to be able to buy vegetables that are grown in responsible, safe fashion. The locally grown "organic" label is widely considered to be a joke, with Thai "organic" farmers freely admitting they pour on the pesticides any time they're not facing a rare government inspection... The rest of the time, for many, it's business as usual.

And you can forget expecting the Thai government to enforce any kind of meaningful regulatory system that would give any meaning to the terms "organic" or "pesticide free" or "naturally grown."

So yes, by all means, wash those veggies.... But just don't expect that's going to make them safe or good for you in the long term.

[sulasno]

I soak all the vegetables with tap water for at least an hour and adding salt too

[krangeek]

Do please allow me to disavow you of the delusion that every time you eat out the cooks use bottled water to clean your vegetables or even cook your rice in for that matter.

And for those of you who are fond of kanom jin, as am I, the many types of fresh herbs accompanying it have been freshly plucked and straight to your table. The odd passer's by urination and all. Yummy.

[beppi]

There are two potential problems with tap water in Thailand (or other places):

1. Microbes causing diarrhoea

2. Heavy metals from bad piping

In Thailand, 1. is rare and 2. common.

Diarrhea is a nuisance, but treatable and usually doesn't leave lasting damage.

Heavy metals don't cause immediate problems, but accumulate in the liver/kidneys and stay there for years, slowly killing those organs - and damage once caused cannot be reversed (means: If you notice it, it's too late!).

Diarrhea can be caused by drinking even a small amount once. Heavy metal damage is proportional to the amount you drink - i.e. drinking a little bit once or twice is no concern, but every day over months or years is.

Microbes are easily killed by boiling, purification tablets, UV irradiation, filters (containing silver ions) available in any home improvement store, etc., but these methods do nothing to heavy metals.

Heavy metals can only be removed by de-ionisation (distillation, reverse osmosis, or similar processes), which are not easily or cheaply implemented in a private home.

Since the amount of tap water you ingest from washed vegetables (or from things cooked in tap water and then drained) is rather small, I use tap for these purposes. But whenever I want to ingest the liquid (soup, tea, sauces, etc.), I use bottled water.

Of course none of the restaurants or roadside eateries do likewise, so if you're paranoid don't visit Thailand (or any other developing country)!

Edited May 22, 2011 by beppi

[lopburi3]

The question on Bangkok is that water has met US standards for purity leaving treatment plant for the last 30 years (tests were conducted by US Embassy Medical Unit to confirm that at Embassy location in about 1980). There is always a small chance of contamination during delivery but that has been less each year - so water should be just as safe in Bangkok as US for drinking. Heavy metal is normally a well/brook (restricted area/low flow) problem in my understanding and most drinking water in Bangkok is from rain/open river source) so should not be any concentration.

[AmericaninBKK]

I accept the comments from other members above, but I'm not sure they're very meaningful.

If you look into the subject the OP raised, you'll see that pesticides -- which are widely overused here and probably with some chemicals not allowed in other countries -- can inhabit BOTH the surface and the interior of vegetables, depending on the particular vegetable.

So if you're worried about washing off dirt and dust, etc. off the outside of your veggies, then decent tap water would be fine.

But surface washing, with tap water or Evian for that matter, doesn't do anything for the problems with pesticide contamination that have, among other things, caused the EU lately to threaten banning a variety of Thai produce imports because of them having high levels of banned pesticides.

Those aren't necessarily the kinds of things that would make one sick immediately upon eating, unless the chemical level was very high. But given we're talking about everyday food items, it becomes a longer term chemical/pesticide exposure issue and the negative health effects that can result...

And ultimately, the biggest problem is, there's no way I know of in Thailand to be able to buy vegetables that are grown in responsible, safe fashion. The locally grown "organic" label is widely considered to be a joke, with Thai "organic" farmers freely admitting they pour on the pesticides any time they're not facing a rare government inspection... The rest of the time, for many, it's business as usual.

And you can forget expecting the Thai government to enforce any kind of meaningful regulatory system that would give any meaning to the terms "organic" or "pesticide free" or "naturally grown."

So yes, by all means, wash those veggies.... But just don't expect that's going to make them safe or good for you in the long term.

Thanks good info for a newbie

[Darrel]

I drink Pattaya tap water from the reverse osmosis machines that abound here, though I do always choose new machines. Seems fine to me. I note that at least one of the brands of bottled water, sold for 40B/5litres in 7/11, is actually reverse osmosis tap water. The label states this clearly, but in tiny print. My water costs 5B/6litres.

If I was going to worry about anything it would be the illegal toxins and pesticides in just about every type of food you can buy here. But short of growing my own there is nothing I can do about it, so I dont worry. Given that I only eat out, I have no real control over any aspect of what I eat and dont know what has gone in it. However, in spite of only eating very spicy Thai food (or perhaps because of that) from small restaurants and street vendors, and the occasional Western breakfast or fresh very hot pizza, I have never had any stomach problem in Thailand in the last 30 years.

[californiabeachboy]

There are two potential problems with tap water in Thailand (or other places):

1. Microbes causing diarrhoea

2. Heavy metals from bad piping

In Thailand, 1. is rare and 2. common.

Diarrhea is a nuisance, but treatable and usually doesn't leave lasting damage.

Heavy metals don't cause immediate problems, but accumulate in the liver/kidneys and stay there for years, slowly killing those organs - and damage once caused cannot be reversed (means: If you notice it, it's too late!).

Diarrhea can be caused by drinking even a small amount once. Heavy metal damage is proportional to the amount you drink - i.e. drinking a little bit once or twice is no concern, but every day over months or years is.

Microbes are easily killed by boiling, purification tablets, UV irradiation, filters (containing silver ions) available in any home improvement store, etc., but these methods do nothing to heavy metals.

Heavy metals can only be removed by de-ionisation (distillation, reverse osmosis, or similar processes), which are not easily or cheaply implemented in a private home.

Since the amount of tap water you ingest from washed vegetables (or from things cooked in tap water and then drained) is rather small, I use tap for these purposes. But whenever I want to ingest the liquid (soup, tea, sauces, etc.), I use bottled water.

Of course none of the restaurants or roadside eateries do likewise, so if you're paranoid don't visit Thailand (or any other developing country)!

Good facts here. I have heard that the problem with the water in Thailand is not necessarily the origination, but the pipes which deliver it, which tend to be old and with assorted bacteria in them.

I think my philosophy on my next trip will be to go ahead and wash veggies in tap water, but if I am eating soup etc. at my apartment, I will be more careful.

[jfchandler]

The Thai department stores do sell a variety of home water filter systems and replacement filters for them.... generally not western names.... but I remember seeing some German systems in Carrefour... Generally, those are the kind that are added to the water line in your kitchen or elsewhere... Hard to tell about their value, because there seems to be little or no documentation in English about their capabilities/effectiveness there at the store displays.

At my home, I use a portable PUR water filter system from the U.S., the kind with a countertop water dispenser with a replaceable filter cartridge that filters the water and then allows it to go into the lower part of the dispenser with a spigot for pouring... Haven't seen PUR systems here or the filters for them.... But the filter cartridges are relatively small and easily shipped from the U.S.

Interestingly, recently at the Central Foodhall at Central Chidlom, tucked away in a rear corner of the store near the soaps and bathroom tissue products, I've recently seen an end-cap aisle display for Brita water filter products from the U.S., which are similar though supposedly not quite as effective as the PUR systems.... Thailand isn't listed as a country on the BRITA products web site, but they apparently are here.... The store has a section of TrueValu hardware products from the U.S. in the same area.

My approach for drinking water, because clean water is one of the best things you can do for yourself and I drink a lot of it here, is to start with the BKK tap water, which is pretty good in my area and in a house that's recently been re-plumbed with new PVC piping.... Then run all that water for drinking thru the PUR filtering system, and then into an electric water boiler to boil for a while... and then finally into pitchers in the refrigerator for use as chilled drinking water.

I take it as a good sign that the filtered water I'm putting in the electric water boiler never produces any scale or other deposits inside on the metal interior vessel of the water boiler...

There were some scientific studies on BKK tap water in recent years that said boiling the tap water was effective at removing the more problematic chemicals that, albeit at low levels, do sometimes show up in the tap water in certain areas at certain times of the year.

[DP25]

I take it as a good sign that the filtered water I'm putting in the electric water boiler never produces any scale or other deposits inside on the metal interior vessel of the water boiler...

Mine doesn't have any either, and I only put tap water in it