Restaurant Hygiene Standards In Thailand

[JSixpack]

I agree and so prepare most of my food at home. If I eat out, I'm very selective, usually sticking only to the well-known and recommended.

Some are born with cast iron stomachs, eat street food all the time with no problem, even recommend shellfish from beach vendors (!). Good for them.

[SOTIRIOS]

.....I have been told by a Thai.....if...for whatever reason...the food vendor.....does not like you......you will get sick....or worse.....

[JSixpack]

All you cheap apt dwellers can prepare your own food. All you need is a hot plate and a few pans from Lotus, Big C, Central etc. I did!

Edited September 24, 2013 by JSixpack

[Rorri]

Been here three years. When in Thailand I have NEVER had what one would call a firm/solid bowel motion - in fact quite the opposite.

Every morning at 7:07 (+- 3 minutes) my bowels instruct me to proceed poste haste to the toilet, whereupon all manner of bacteria is evacuated.

When I go home to Farangland I usually suffer from chronic constipation after about 3 days which takes a week to stabilise.

On returning to LOS, I get the squirts 24 hours following consumption of the first morsel of food, which in 3 days recalibrates to the 7:07 wake up call.

Somehow I don't think it's just the change in climate that impacts my bowels to that extent, so my lower intestines are in agreement with the OP - food safety standards in LOS are ass-ininely non existent .

LoL...here's me thinking I was a loner, now I know there's at least one other, except my timing is close to 9:00am.

[meatboy]

my wf.has the basic and an intermediate food hygiene certificate as she was a cattering supervisor in a big hospital uk.the exam for the later cert.i couldnt even pronounce the words of certain food bugs ect.what she see's here well its very rare she eats food prepared out side.she did catch one of the big fast food chains here in korat when she returned 3 meals of pork steaks that were still frozen in the middle,it was if a bomb had gone off all the kitchen staff were looking at her [kids mind] when she gave this so called manageress a bollocking.soory was the explanation not in the microwave long enough.well that was enough for us to we have never eaten in any of them since.

[Rorri]

Thailand does have health and safety laws but these are not taken seriously and rarely enforced.

Over the years I`ve witnessed some deplorable conditions of hygiene in Thai eating establishments. Filth, dirt and vermin everywhere, staff using bare hands while preparing and cooking the food, filthy tables for preparing the food, sneezing in the food, cooked and raw pork and meats left out in the open swarming with flies.

So far I have been lucky and have not suffered food poisoning, only because I have experience and cautious of where and what I eat.

Thai noodle stall and restaurant owners don`t give a rat’s behind about hygiene regulations and clean practices. What does concern them more is reputation, especially if mostly catering to the local clientele. If customers get sick after eating in their establishments, then the word gets round, and the customers will avoid the place, then it goes out of business.

In Thailand whatever we do, we just have to be cautious and a bit more choosey, as most of it is based on a hope and a prayer that the worst won`t happen.

Look at the UK about 200 years ago, and consider the hygiene then, and they still managed to control close to half the world. Seems to me out stomachs, or minds, are getting weaker, having said that, oh how I'd like a solid movement after 2.5 years.

[TheSpade]

All you cheap apt dwellers can prepare your own food. All you need is a hot plate and a few pans from Lotus, Big C, Central etc. I did!

Yeah but I don't want to.

One of the joys of Thailand is that you can find tasty food every night every 100 yards for dirt cheap and don't have to cook.

I'm sure me eating out works out cheaper than if I cooked because whenever I go the supermarket I get carried away and buy loads of stuff and I don't even having cooking equipment.

If I did I'd buy even more stuff thinking of all the delicious dishes I was going to knock up only to probably not make half of it and the food to go to waste.

I reckon cooking only works out cheaper than eating out if you cook Thai dishes yourself...and then what's the point?

The only two times I recall having any major reaction recently was from a salad prepared by a farang owned "deli" and from a turkey sub sandwich prepared at uber hygienic Subway. Can't recall any problems from Thai restaurants or food vendors.

I can never understand why people are so sure what caused them to be sick.

Just because something was the last thing you ate doesn't mean that was what caused it.

Food poisoning can take a couple of days to come or or it can come on quicker.

It might not even be the food but water, dirt on your hands, germs from something else like an insect or many other things that made you sick.

[Banzai99]

Not that any of "us" do this, but how many people don't wash their hands before they eat? Touching money, merchandise, doors, pets, escalator rails, elevator buttons,etc. is something most of us do.

I would imagine that some people get sick from their own hand and not due to the hygiene standards of the eatery. This goes worldwide and not just in LOS.

Oh C'mon, ThaiVisa members, they are perfect human beings with perfect manners living their perfect lives with perfect wives.

Makes one wonder why they are always freekin' moaning.

[transam]

Not that any of "us" do this, but how many people don't wash their hands before they eat? Touching money, merchandise, doors, pets, escalator rails, elevator buttons,etc. is something most of us do.

I would imagine that some people get sick from their own hand and not due to the hygiene standards of the eatery. This goes worldwide and not just in LOS.

Oh C'mon, ThaiVisa members, they are perfect human beings with perfect manners living their perfect lives with perfect wives.

Makes one wonder why they are always freekin' moaning.

I am one of those with your ''perfect life'', BUT I do not eat stuff from stalls because l am not daft and understand the risk to my farang body.

Noooooooo probs so far, BUT my Mrs is another story.

[mdmayes]

Been here three years. When in Thailand I have NEVER had what one would call a firm/solid bowel motion - in fact quite the opposite.

Every morning at 7:07 (+- 3 minutes) my bowels instruct me to proceed poste haste to the toilet, whereupon all manner of bacteria is evacuated.

When I go home to Farangland I usually suffer from chronic constipation after about 3 days which takes a week to stabilise.

On returning to LOS, I get the squirts 24 hours following consumption of the first morsel of food, which in 3 days recalibrates to the 7:07 wake up call.

Somehow I don't think it's just the change in climate that impacts my bowels to that extent, so my lower intestines are in agreement with the OP - food safety standards in LOS are ass-ininely non existent .

The swiss are looking for a better way of keeping time. Me thinks your bowels would qualify for this special task

[rct99q]

Now I am really curious as to what everybody is eating.....a lot of the replies indicate western style foods (who would eat a hamburger in this country??). I live here and have had 2 cases of the runs (from the same restaurant and farang food) in Nong Khai. I have never been ill from Thai food. I shop in a local market with the "butcher" chopping up my pork belly on a piece of cardboard box with the blood drippings rolling over the side and all over. Her pigs are slaughtered daily so her meat is always fresh.

Being in rural Isaan I suppose it is not the same as the high rolling tourist spots but still........

No offence to the OP on my "it is all in your mind' spot.....I work in a gh and see the staff preparing food as well our neighbor makes khanom jeen and see the amount of flavor enhancer they use .... startling!

[mauGR1]

As a vegetarian, it's almost impossible for me to get sick from food....I think , in general, Thai restaurants are not so dirty.. But, food poisoning, as far as i hear around, has always something to do with rotten meat or seafood.

[belg]

there is no resistance building against e. coli

how many months are they using the same cooking oil

washing, sorry, rice the plates (if you are lucky?) with klong water ?

no soap, no towel

well, eat at home or eat in a shopping mall, with toilets with paper & soap

but many still don't use them anyway

[Hedghog]

As a vegetarian, it's almost impossible for me to get sick from food....I think , in general, Thai restaurants are not so dirty.. But, food poisoning, as far as i hear around, has always something to do with rotten meat or seafood.

You are so wrong,in regards to not getting food poisoning from salad.

[mauGR1]

As a vegetarian, it's almost impossible for me to get sick from food....I think , in general, Thai restaurants are not so dirty.. But, food poisoning, as far as i hear around, has always something to do with rotten meat or seafood.

You are so wrong,in regards to not getting food poisoning from salad.

I forgot to say i almost always eat at home....It's cleaner that any restaurant

[kokesaat]

As a vegetarian, it's almost impossible for me to get sick from food....I think , in general, Thai restaurants are not so dirty.. But, food poisoning, as far as i hear around, has always something to do with rotten meat or seafood.

So all those folks who got deathly ill from tainted spinach and green onions in the US in the past few years don't count?

Add cantalopes, tomatoes, probably most any veggie/fruit.

[mauGR1]

As a vegetarian, it's almost impossible for me to get sick from food....I think , in general, Thai restaurants are not so dirty.. But, food poisoning, as far as i hear around, has always something to do with rotten meat or seafood.

So all those folks who got deathly ill from tainted spinach and green onions in the US in the past few years don't count?

Add cantalopes, tomatoes, probably most any veggie/fruit.

Yeah..Right...Air is polluted, better stop breathing

[TheSpade]

my wf.has the basic and an intermediate food hygiene certificate as she was a cattering supervisor in a big hospital uk

Whilst I was a teenager I worked in major hospital kitchen that made the meals for the patients.

Some of the stuff that went on and the standards of hygiene and cleanliness were not good.

[stickylies]

can someone explain me, i'm no doctor. when raw meat is full of germs and you heat it, doesn't all the germs die ? i understand raw food is a bad idea, but well-cooked or boiled, doesn't that kill most bacteria ? most foodstalls i eat throw in the meat or fish, put the wok on HIGH, then add some water, everything actually boils for 15-30 seconds, than they add the sauce and churot and whatever...

[transam]

can someone explain me, i'm no doctor. when raw meat is full of germs and you heat it, doesn't all the germs die ? i understand raw food is a bad idea, but well-cooked or boiled, doesn't that kill most bacteria ? most foodstalls i eat throw in the meat or fish, put the wok on HIGH, then add some water, everything actually boils for 15-30 seconds, than they add the sauce and churot and whatever...

Stuff that can kill you can come from folks hands or their work space and not the food. Stuff that kills you you cannot see, but it can be there..

[nong38]

In the UK we had Trading Standards Officers, if you complained about a place, shop or restaurant they would descend and do a check, give you a week to put it right, then return, if its not right you get a fine or worst case get closed down. Here I dont think they excist, so, if you have a bad experience dont go back. I think if I went out back I would probably leave right away, unless it was a national/global chain that might have standards to be adhered to in "the way to run the outlet."

[meatboy]

can someone explain me, i'm no doctor. when raw meat is full of germs and you heat it, doesn't all the germs die ? i understand raw food is a bad idea, but well-cooked or boiled, doesn't that kill most bacteria ? most foodstalls i eat throw in the meat or fish, put the wok on HIGH, then add some water, everything actually boils for 15-30 seconds, than they add the sauce and churot and whatever...

well cooked a big yes,but how do you know its well cooked when kids are working in the kitchens of these fast food restaurants and its being cooked in a microwave.

[sustento]

my wf.has the basic and an intermediate food hygiene certificate as she was a cattering supervisor in a big hospital uk

Whilst I was a teenager I worked in major hospital kitchen that made the meals for the patients.

Some of the stuff that went on and the standards of hygiene and cleanliness were not good.

So tell us in what years were you a teenager? Do you assume that things then were the same as they are now?

[sustento]

can someone explain me, i'm no doctor. when raw meat is full of germs and you heat it, doesn't all the germs die ? i understand raw food is a bad idea, but well-cooked or boiled, doesn't that kill most bacteria ? most foodstalls i eat throw in the meat or fish, put the wok on HIGH, then add some water, everything actually boils for 15-30 seconds, than they add the sauce and churot and whatever...

well cooked a big yes,but how do you know its well cooked when kids are working in the kitchens of these fast food restaurants

So does the fact that something is 'well-cooked' depend on the age of the person who cooks it?

[allucero]

Last year I contacted a bacteria infection in Thailand and almost lost a leg from this. I have been going to Thailand every December for about 15 years and I do notice the Thai bathroom/toilets are never clean and have not been cleaned in years. When we eat in Pattaya at the beach I have never seen a street vendor clean his/her hands. It makes you wonder what they do after a valve movement??? My wife in the states is very clean and has learned to be even more clean in the US however, she insists never on cleaning the toilet and will never be cleaned unless I do this task... THE BOTTOM LINE IS : THAIS DO NOT WASH THEIR HANDS BEFORE EATING OR PREPARING FOOD!!

[Beechboy]

In the UK we had Trading Standards Officers, if you complained about a place, shop or restaurant they would descend and do a check, give you a week to put it right, then return, if its not right you get a fine or worst case get closed down. Here I dont think they excist, so, if you have a bad experience dont go back. I think if I went out back I would probably leave right away, unless it was a national/global chain that might have standards to be adhered to in "the way to run the outlet."

In the Uk it all famously went too far in the other direction.

The so-called "hygiene cowboys" were onto everything.

The problem was that incidences of food poisoning went into an upward spiral as people's systems became less resistant to the slightest exposure to bacteria.

Now there is a more balanced approach, but EVERY food serving establishment is checked regularly and this is the responsibility of the local authorities. Also, in theory, ALL chefs/cooks and people handling food should have to gain a food hygiene certificate.

The obvious problem with Thailand is the vast number of such establishments. Align this with the organisational inabilities of the Thai authorities and such inspections are impossible.

ALSO: Never play up/ complain overmuch in a restaurant and this includes sending food back, which is sometimes necessary. Chefs will notoriously exact their revenge by polluting your serving.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Beechboy

[Mr Wimpy]

It is virtually impossible to completely eliminate the risk of food poisoning in a food establishment. Even the cleanest kitchens are at risk from outside sources such as poor staff hygiene and poor suppliers. In the UK a food handler will not be prosecuted if he can show evidence that he acted with due diligence.

Wouldn't expect the same standards in Thailand but at least if they showed an effort it would raise customer confidence. Been to countless places where they can even be bothered to dust the place or wipe the menus. Basic stuff.

Sent from my jungle hideout

[angrybird]

I dare not read any of the posts.

[Mr Wimpy]

Can't be bothered I meant to say.

Also if I walk into a place and the server is busy squeezing pimples in full view of the customers I think it says a lot about his general attitude to the job.

In the UK now each individual food handler has a duty of care and can be prosecuted for not complying to the basic food hygiene standards. Spitting in food for example is treated as putting someones life in danger

Sent from my jungle hideout

[Beechboy]

The body needs to ingest a certain amount of bad bacteria at regular intervals in order to build up a resistance.

An overdose or exposure to new or unfamiliar strains leads to poisoning.