Food Safety And Pavement Poison

[george]

Food safety and pavement poison

BANGKOK: -- It is possible to acquire many things in Bangkok, both good and bad, but fatal food poisoning is not generally regarded as being one of them. That is why the case of Singaporean tourist Ng Kian Wah, 45, who decided to treat his wife, Yeo Seaw Wie, 35, to a short holiday here this month came as such a shock. Ms Yeo is confined to a wheelchair and Bangkok is not the easiest city for a disabled person to get around in, so the Mahboonkrong shopping centre, near the family's hotel, and the sheer variety of shopping it offered took up a lot of their time. Before flying back to Singapore on Jan 9, the couple and their maid had a meal at one of the many nearby food outlets. Not long afterwards, all three began suffering from diarrhoea and the flight home was an ordeal. But far worse was to come. Ms Yeo underwent seven hours of emergency treatment but it was too late to save her life. Her husband and the maid survived, but an autopsy report, quoted by the Straits Times, showed Yeo had died of a severe intestinal inflammation due to an infection.

It would be easy to dismiss this as a tragic, but isolated incident, if it were not for an ominous warning contained in a report issued by the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (CDC). This alert said that new pathogens capable of causing chronic food poisoning were emerging and familiar ones becoming resistant to treatment. It was accompanied by a reminder that there are now more than 200 illnesses linked to food poisoning, caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, metals or prions. Symptoms range from a simple stomach upset to hepatitis, neurological or renal problems that can be life threatening. Now this is not new, the CDC has issued generalised warnings before but this latest one indicates a far greater threat. Food hygiene in the US and the rest of the world is bad enough already. Each year the US alone sees 76 million cases of food poisoning and 5,000 deaths.

Most of us get through life with only a few mild bouts of food poisoning. Mass outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated food in this country are comparatively rare. But the fact that people are not dropping in the streets is no reason for complacency. In light of the latest CDC warning, we must step up our existing safeguards against virulent pathogens.

Being prepared means tighter controls, especially of foodstalls. They are supposed to be registered, but not all are, and to maintain high standards of food safety and hygiene. To their credit, a great many succeed in this because their business relies on repeat custom. Unfortunately others do not, or lack consistency. Food vendors are an integral part of city life and our culture. It would be difficult to imagine Bangkok without them. On the negative side, they do clutter up pavements and fight a losing battle against all the dirt, pollution and other contaminants that exist in city streets.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has always had a love-hate relationship with vendors and has pledged to rid Bangkok's streets of them within 10 years, a promise it will find impossible to keep. A more sensible approach would be to work with the Public Health Ministry to improve food safety. There are already projects and programmes such as the Green Star emblems and fines for non-compliance with cleanliness and sanitary regulations, but a more intensified approach is needed if we are to achieve the scale of drastic improvements needed. And needed they most certainly are.

Just ask one victim _ an unlucky 22-year-old law student who stopped by a Sukhumvit road foodstall for a quick dish of sukiyaki on her way home from university prior to celebrating the New Year. Ms Suwimon Kawjarernsuk had no idea just how unpleasant a weekend was in store for her. When she reached the hospital emergency room she did not even have the energy left to complete the paperwork required for admission. That didn't come as a surprise. The hospital was used to cases of severe food poisoning. It had seen them before and, unfortunately, would see them again.

We do have to do more than trust to pure luck if we want to ensure food safety. And so do the authorities.

--Bangkok Post 2006-01-21

[Jai Dee]

I try some from time to time... but I will never buy any of the chicken or pork that gets cooked, reheated, reheated, reheated... a sure fire method of contracting food poisoning.

[rcalsop]

I try some from time to time... but I will never buy any of the chicken or pork that gets cooked, reheated, reheated, reheated... a sure fire method of contracting food poisoning.

I eat street food daily at several different food stalls or street restos I have rarely had any real problem ,I have used street stalls all over the world except Bangladesh ( there are limits ) .

In general if the stall is popular with the locals and has a high turn over the food is usually fresh and not stored overnight .

I do have several experiences of bad food poisoning a couple leading to septascemia ( spelling ?) not my self luckily, and they were traced to big hotels and expensive restos where food storage and refridgeration /freezing rules were not followed correctly ..ie raw meats stored above pastries , the same knife and chopping blocks used for raw meats and cooked meats .

I prefer up front open street cooking places that buy stock as required and have no stock at the end of the day . But as usuall common sense is required , may be I am lucky but my rules have worked for many years so far . When moving to a new country I know I have to cultivate new fauna and flora in my gut and will have a dodgey tummy for a while until the new colonies take over and my internals adapt .

A point of interest I read a report that airline food is responsible for over 40% of tourist tummy troubles ...Now that is cooked or partialy cooked , packaged transported cooled reheated and served .. a process that lasts for several hours then add delayed flight factors in ..the report may have more than a grain of truth in it .

[awarrumbungle]

Just pile on the chilis and you'll be right. Kills all the nasties.