Food At Bus Terminals, Train Stations Found Below Safety Standards: Thailand

[farangme]

Over the years have spent time in hospital on three occasions due to food poisoning. Lovely experiences. No longer eat any street food. Also try to size up any restaurant, i.e. do I see any staff using rubber gloves. Also avoid cold seafood dishes as the meat has been sitting around for awhile.

When in doubt....McDonald's baby!!! Never had a problem with Western fast food places.

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[jerrysteve]

Noitoms comment is also to the point. Where is the soap bathrooms. Anyone who has been to a Food Court here will notice the Absence of Hand Soap in the Restrooms.

Ever wonder if the food service people in those places ever wash their hands after a Bowel Movement etc, and then proceed back to their stations

to cook and serve food.

I always carry a small bar of soap in a small zip locked baggie for myself, but I wonder about the food service people. It is kind of a scary thought.

Its just not the bus terminals, or train stations...its the hygene throughout the food service industry there.

[tropo]

Soap and paper in a Thai toilet? Other than occasional upscale shopping malls and hotels they are non existant.

We must be lucky in Pattaya then. All the main shopping malls toilets have toilet paper and are kept very clean.

Edited April 11, 2012 by tropo

[tropo]

"The standards for street vendors is no different. Ever seen them wash the dishes? You'd never eat there again if you did. Cold water, no soap, same bucket all day. Perfect conditions for all sorts of nasties."

I quit my favorite noodle stall when I watched a dog take a pee in the unguarded, ground level, dishwashing basin.

Did you quit all noodle stalls, or just went to another one? They're pretty much alike as far as hygiene is concerned.

The local night market (Pattaya Klang) food court has rats running around bigger than cats. I'll have to admit it puts me off a bit.

Edited April 11, 2012 by tropo

[TeddyFlyfisherDavis]

Men who touch female revellers inappropriately or molest them will be arrested.

What about women who touch men?

One can only hope right...?

[Yunla]

There's no chance of the police arresting anyone for shooting water at riders on motorcycles during Songcran, about three years ago on a very busy road, there were two children about 12 years old doing just that at me, supervised by a female adult, I stopped my bike and gave the adult hell and all I got was "solly solly".

Let me just say that if any Farang adult throws water at me in any shape or form, they will end up with a very sore face, so any of you stupid farangs who want to throw water at Farang strangers, make sure the person they try to throw water at is not six ft tall, dark hair, quite slim and very fit looking. You have been warned.

Possum ...(???)....good job it's Songkran because I'm sure everyone is just wetting themselves now.........laughing!

Maybe his tears of loneliness splashing down onto his alpha-M physique, are his way of celebrating the water-festival.

I don't mind people shooting water at me coz my wheelchair is rust-proof. I do wear earplugs sometimes though.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Yunla

[hawker9000]

There's no chance of the police arresting anyone for shooting water at riders on motorcycles during Songcran, about three years ago on a very busy road, there were two children about 12 years old doing just that at me, supervised by a female adult, I stopped my bike and gave the adult hell and all I got was "solly solly".

Let me just say that if any Farang adult throws water at me in any shape or form, they will end up with a very sore face, so any of you stupid farangs who want to throw water at Farang strangers, make sure the person they try to throw water at is not six ft tall, dark hair, quite slim and very fit looking. You have been warned.

Sorry for being off topic, commenting this post.

Your post scared the shit out of us! What's wrong with foreigners in LOS, celebrating Songkran and throwing water on each other?

I'm in Pai now and everybody's doing this already today on the 11th. Should I kick asses when foreigners do that to me, as I'm 7 ft tall, very muscular and got a well functioning brain.....

Guess it would be okay if an attractive, sexy female Farang would throw water at such a six foot tall, (?) dark hair (scary!) slim ( member of weight watchers). fit looking (but just looking)...NO!

You'd beat the shit out of her and tell her that she'd been warned......lol

It is possible that you haven't got the slightest sense of humor in the Land of Smiles....

Or is it possible that you're just a no-life (pathetic) thrillseeker (pee'd in the park once) who mindlessly (and that's at the top of his game) joins in to what has evolved into an annual excuse for hooliganism and assault on innocent passersby you wouldn't otherwise have any pretext (not to mention lack of stature) to confront? Yeah, enjoy yourself, dog!

[khaowong1]

The Thai government is not perfect. But so far they did not approve medical drugs like the USA did that killed many people around the world. I did not hear that someone died because of the bad food at the bus terminals. But I read a lot about the other topic caused by the US government ;-)

What's got your knickers in a wad? We're talking about Thai take away food here and your ranting on about the USA. What ever it is, get over it.

[Payboy]

I did not hear that someone died because of the bad food at the bus terminals.

If you're taking a bus in Thailand, bad food at the terminal should be the least of your worries.

[hyperdimension]

What also needs to be raised is the fact that you have to pay to use the toilets at bus and train stations (and other places like shopping malls and parks), and it seems that the earnings are not at all used for the upkeep of the toilets. It seems that the pay-toilets are less likely to have soap, toilet paper or hand towels than free toilets.

I think pay toilets should simply be banned, as it's likely that someone is simply putting all the money into their own pockets.

[SteveCNX]

Talk about below par food, how about the crap they're serving up on Thai Airways! White bread mystery meat sandwiches? Not exactly what I came to Thailand for.

[Fishface]

Dont eat chicken at bus terminals or anywhere else. I only eat caterpillars, maggots, dried frogs and fried locust --proper Thai food. You cant beat the local stuff.

Edit --oh and I add a little bit of urine in the Songkran water. You dont notice it till you start to dry out,-- he he he.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Fishface

[mca]

Strewth! I had salmonella poisoning once from some dodgy food in Mae Hong Song. I'm only slightly joking when I say that I felt so bad that dying was a preferable option.

Interesting... I got salmonella in MHS as well... but it was from a pizza place... took it to the guest house I was staying at and ate it. About 2-hours later, I'm blowing chunks out of both ends and feverish.

Yep. Had a dodgy curry. Sitting having a drink with my friends about 3 hours later. Thought to myself " I dunno I feel a bit chilly and sweaty.."

The precursor to hours of hell.

[TackyToo]

[normac44]

Several years ago my wife and I were staying at Krabi and took a trip out to Phi Phi Island.Rather stupidly we ate some chicken that as we found out later had been on the open air table for more than 30 mins.After spending 4 days in Hospital with severe food poisioning I vowed never to eat chicken again and even now on trips to Chiang Mai and other places I buy packaged food only.Chips and cold water in bottles will do me until I can get back to the Hotel or good food places I can trust.

[TheWalkingMan]

Here is a bilingual (English/Thai) to a Facebook account, Food Hygiene Asia. https://www.facebook.com/foodhygieneasia Maybe good for some people.

[barefoot1988]

Must be my 67 year old cast iron intestinal system but after two years of almost daily eating of Thai street food, not a single instance of illness, upset stomach, diarrhea, etc. However my vision isn't what it used to be.

2 years daily street food. not only iron intestinal system, probably iron linings around the heart arteries as well

[Baloo22]

I may be wrong and correct me if I am but there has seldom ever been a notable out break of bacterial infections found in the food here in Thailand that I know of or ever heard of.....

If there was Would we ever hear about it?? People from Europe can speak for Europe. In the U.S. when a doctor/clinic/hospital has cases (especially multiple cases) of samonella, e-coli, or other serious food posioning they report it to county or state health departments. Those departments usually do a decent job of tracking the sources and taking action. And it's open, transparent, and reported in the news media. Even if a local health director would attempt to cover it up, you can bet that very soon some staff person will be on the phone to a local TV or print news organization. Then it's in the news and you have a bunch of journalists hounding those government officials. Then you will find large audiences at the next City Council or County Commissioner's meeting and not very shy about demanding answers and action. Does that happen here?

Even in the normal every day of life health issues are reported. My local city newspaper back home had a sections each week that detailed the restaurants that had been inspected that week by the County Health Board. The restaurants were named and the inspections details reported. If you ate at "Ronnie's Seafood" down the road, you could read about their latest health inspection. You could also go to the County Health Department and get copies of their prior inspection records. Does that happen here?

And most states in the U.S. now have some form of "press shield" laws that prevent police/politicians from forcing journalists from giving up names of confidention news sources. Even in the states with the least restrictive laws, the police must go before a judge and show cause to force disclosure. And many states have "whistle-blower" laws that help protect citizens that reprort criminal or unethical behavior of government officials. Are all these type laws in all states perfect? No, don't think so, but I don't think that Thailand has anything even close.

As far as any payoffs and corruption; Does it ever happen in the US? Of course it does happen. People are inperfect in all countries and it does happen in all countries. But in the U.S., it is the exception rather than the rule. And there are multiple state and federal agencies specifically tasked to investigate and prosecute corruption cases. Just in recent years there have been state governors and several congress critters put in federal prison. And we have a news media and hoards of investigative journalists that love to hunt and hound suspected corrupt police and government officials.

In short, I have a suspicion that there could be many outbreaks of such food poisoning here in Thailand and you would never hear about it. Nope, no problem, just move along.

[xthAi76s]

I may be wrong and correct me if I am but there has seldom ever been a notable out break of bacterial infections found in the food here in Thailand that I know of or ever heard of.....

If there was Would we ever hear about it?? People from Europe can speak for Europe. In the U.S. when a doctor/clinic/hospital has cases (especially multiple cases) of samonella, e-coli, or other serious food posioning they report it to county or state health departments. Those departments usually do a decent job of tracking the sources and taking action. And it's open, transparent, and reported in the news media. Even if a local health director would attempt to cover it up, you can bet that very soon some staff person will be on the phone to a local TV or print news organization. Then it's in the news and you have a bunch of journalists hounding those government officials. Then you will find large audiences at the next City Council or County Commissioner's meeting and not very shy about demanding answers and action. Does that happen here?

Even in the normal every day of life health issues are reported. My local city newspaper back home had a sections each week that detailed the restaurants that had been inspected that week by the County Health Board. The restaurants were named and the inspections details reported. If you ate at "Ronnie's Seafood" down the road, you could read about their latest health inspection. You could also go to the County Health Department and get copies of their prior inspection records. Does that happen here?

And most states in the U.S. now have some form of "press shield" laws that prevent police/politicians from forcing journalists from giving up names of confidention news sources. Even in the states with the least restrictive laws, the police must go before a judge and show cause to force disclosure. And many states have "whistle-blower" laws that help protect citizens that reprort criminal or unethical behavior of government officials. Are all these type laws in all states perfect? No, don't think so, but I don't think that Thailand has anything even close.

As far as any payoffs and corruption; Does it ever happen in the US? Of course it does happen. People are inperfect in all countries and it does happen in all countries. But in the U.S., it is the exception rather than the rule. And there are multiple state and federal agencies specifically tasked to investigate and prosecute corruption cases. Just in recent years there have been state governors and several congress critters put in federal prison. And we have a news media and hoards of investigative journalists that love to hunt and hound suspected corrupt police and government officials.

In short, I have a suspicion that there could be many outbreaks of such food poisoning here in Thailand and you would never hear about it. Nope, no problem, just move along.

Thank you for the intelligent post. People really need to know when and how to compare a (regressing) 3rd world country with little freedom of press, a very high corruption index and terrible propensity for face saving to the richest, highly transparent and one of the most liberally progressive countries in history.

Edited April 14, 2012 by xthAi76s

[Jimjim]

What about men who molest and inappropriately touch other men?

I've been attacked and forcibly fondled by men during Songkran twice in separate years. Had it happened in my own country I probably would have made a complaint to the police.

[h90]

I did not hear that someone died because of the bad food at the bus terminals.

If you're taking a bus in Thailand, bad food at the terminal should be the least of your worries.

Yes because they died from an accident caused by the Yaa Bah busdriver before the bugs in the food can kill them.

[h90]

Several years ago my wife and I were staying at Krabi and took a trip out to Phi Phi Island.Rather stupidly we ate some chicken that as we found out later had been on the open air table for more than 30 mins.After spending 4 days in Hospital with severe food poisioning I vowed never to eat chicken again and even now on trips to Chiang Mai and other places I buy packaged food only.Chips and cold water in bottles will do me until I can get back to the Hotel or good food places I can trust.

On the open air more than 30 min, more than 1 hour, more than 2 hour does not cause you problems when it was OK before.

Open air for 8 hours maybe cause you small problems, but not big ones.

There was something much much worse going on with that chicken.

typical: Salad came with the chicken, cut on the bloody place--full of salmonella

The chicken got cut with a very dirty knife and than it fermented for hours in the warm weather.

You drank a glass of water with ice (or it had ice before) and it was the ice they used to keep the chicken cool (no that isn't a joke, I have seen that).

etc etc

[rotorbreeze]

Call me paranoid, but I won't even buy cooked food from the markets anymore. There is absolutely no health control for food in Thailand. I have no idea under what conditions the food has been prepared or stored. It may well have been left out overnight in somebody's kitchen with the rats and cockroaches snacking on it before being dished up at the market. My Thai GF says that they also "pad out" some Thai dishes using tissue paper, but at least that won't kill you. There's also a tendency to use flavour enhancers like MSG in large quantities, not to mention liberal helpings of sugar and salt. Thai food healthy? Not in a million years.

Best to stick to hamburgers and french fries with all the trimmings.

I stay away from eating Thai vendor food, yes the MSG is common use for tenderizing the rooster meat, I also use common sense when met with the option while at a questionable eatery while traveling.. am I going to starve if I do not eat..or rather if I eat am I going to Fill the toilet both choices I visualize...throw up a few hours after eating questionable food dishes...or in enhance the abstain of food desire. Having a empty stomach by mentally visualizing my liver, kidney, gall blatter working in optimizing their function by drinking bottle water, yes the water!

Fasting benefits.. an interesting subject, also noted you begin a fast once you get food poisoning or use common sense TO DO a cleanse while traveling..note you may experience a headache which has nothing to do with head the root cause is the toxins being released and blood flow to brain is restricted thus the term Head ache...solution drink a lot of water, or sports drink. Thanks for the read..preventative choices best!

[elgato]

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

[TomTao]

I have been sick three times in Thailand, once before I moved here when I left some egg custard sticky rice out over night and wondered why it tasted tangy in the morning, then started throwing up from both ends a few hours later, then after I moved here I got ill after buying some food on the train from a station vendor who came on board, the last time was e-colli from improperly washed vegetables at a curbside vendor in Bangkok. Never had any problem at the place I normally eat in Chumphon. If I see food that is cold I ask when it was cooked, if its more than an hour earlier I don't buy it.

[Jim walker]

I always try and avoid the water and ice especially at roadside café just stick to the beer it also kills all the bad bacteria you are eating if you drink enough beer

[tukkytuktuk]

Drinking beer also makes you post complete nonsence, I find.

[Fookhaht]

Never had a problem with Western fast food places.

Last year I had one serious case of food poisoning: From the Subway sandwich shop at Suvarnabhumi Airport! (And I eat street food daily!).

[MaiChiang]

32 out of 81!?

Not to bring up an old topic but now I'm paranoid after I found this post (maybe rightfully so). Forgive me if it's a naive question but I haven't been in Thailand that long, so can any veteran expats on here explain why this wouldn't also be the case with restaurants or street stalls in general? What makes train and bus station food any riskier for having bacteria than any other type of food out there? How is a train and bus station stall different than a restaurant or street stall?