Is Pla Ra safe to eat?

[timmyp]

timmyp: I like fermented foods, and plaa raa is one of them. I have never gotten sick from it.

I was unaware of the health risk, so now I'm happy to have been turned on to this information. I'm glad I never got sick from it.

While it sounds like there is solid evidence to be concerned about plaa raa after reading the links, it's important to remember that there is often strong prejudice against the food of other cultures, of food eaten by the underclass, etc., then a hunt for reasons why that food is unhealthy.

I'm sure plaa raa would be fine if it were prepared safely and correctly, just like sushi and raw chicken, raw beef, raw horse, etc. (all eaten in Japan). If not prepared correctly, food poisoning is a serious concern.

I am curious. How do you prepare correctly, raw chicken?

Like under cooked pork or raw fish that is one hell of a risk an eater does not need to take IMHO

The chicken is usually soaked in a light vinegar. Obviously the chicken has to be handled safely, from before the time it is slaughtered. Japan has a tradition of dealing with raw foods, so there is particular care given by certain suppliers knowing that the meat will be eaten raw. Chicken, fish, meat is cleaned and immediately put on ice (but not frozen) and eaten immediately.

Of course there are still incidents of food poisoning from eating raw food every year in Japan. I don't defend eating raw fish or raw meat, I'm only saying that there is particular care given from before the slaughter with the knowledge that it will be eaten raw. I am more concerned about eating raw fish in a country where the fish were not handled with the understanding that the fish would be cooked.

I got food poisoning the second time I had raw chicken in southern Japan. Nobody else got sick, just me. I guess I ate the wrong piece. I was sick for about a week. It wasn't salmonella, but a bacteria related to salmonella that is common in chicken. I've had raw chicken loads of other times and never got sick. Of course I don't recommend it, but sometimes we are in situations where it's very bad form to say no, very hard to decline. Great to stick to once principles in such situations, but sometimes we have to weigh the risks and make changes.

Edited June 9, 2015 by timmyp

[MaeJoMTB]

Would you eat sauce made from dirty socks? if NO.. forget the Plaa ra..

It has a good reason that we have a nose....One reason is to figure out if something is safe to eat. When you smell Plaa Ra my nose tells me: "Rotten, do NOT eat".

It is an instinct.

How do you explain cheese?

[goltec]

why don't you just order papaya salad without pla ra....... you can eat it anywhere without it.

and ,,,,,don't think papaya salad is the only food they put pla ra in.

just when you order any food in the Isaan , say you don't want any pla ra in it. (e.g. Laab )

Edited June 9, 2015 by goltec

[timmyp]

som dom can be called a food of the underclass but it can be healthy and tasty without fermented crab parasites - cysts.

mexican mole is underclass food by history and superb but not known to cause hepatiis liver disease/cancer

Som Dom?? Do you mean som tam?

Som tam? You mean sôm dtam

Really, everyone knows what he meant.

I honestly didn't know what he meant. There's a certain degree of straying from the Thai that I can get, this stepped beyond that. I actually thought it was a food I never heard of, and tried looking it up.

Thanks for adding the tone mark, but as long as you're correcting my simplified rendering with something that is supposedly more accurate, I'll correct your mistransliteration:

/dt/ is not a phoneme in Thai, but /t/ is correct. Some linguistically inaccurate textbooks like to use /dt/ cause westerns aspirate /t/.

Check it out yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language#Consonants

See the chart? Just /t/, no /dt/

But thanks for trying to correct me with something that is actually wrong, your Thai is obviously superior.

[HerbalEd]

I like fermented foods, and plaa raa is one of them. I have never gotten sick from it.

I was unaware of the health risk, so now I'm happy to have been turned on to this information. I'm glad I never got sick from it.

While it sounds like there is solid evidence to be concerned about plaa raa after reading the links, it's important to remember that there is often strong prejudice against the food of other cultures, of food eaten by the underclass, etc., then a hunt for reasons why that food is unhealthy.

I'm sure plaa raa would be fine if it were prepared safely and correctly, just like sushi and raw chicken, raw beef, raw horse, etc. (all eaten in Japan). If not prepared correctly, food poisoning is a serious concern.

Don't be so sure you haven't got sick from it. Hepatitis C can go undetected for many years as it slowly destroys your liver. Best get a full liver test for viruses to make sure.

[HerbalEd]

why don't you just order papaya salad without pla ra....... you can eat it anywhere without it.

and ,,,,,don't think papaya salad is the only food they put pla ra in.

just when you order any food in the Isaan , say you don't want any pla ra in it. (e.g. Laab )

Just ask for "som tam Thai" and you'll not get the stinky sauce.

[nutterz64]

This is a very interesting topic. I had no idea that liver fluke was such a big problem but was aware of the high rates of liver cancer in the northeast. My wife and family buy it by the tub load from the Talad and eat som tam loaded with this every day... along with the raw crab. I don't really like it and prefer som tam Thai so haven't eaten too much.

Don't like my chances of convincing them of its dangers though.

[RasiMike]

My mother in law lives on it, as do most of the other old people in her village. The discussion has been around for a while now that it may be causing liver and pancreatic cancer in the locals. Her reply to this is that the age of the product is the issue. In her opinion has been long understood that you can't eat freshly made Plaa ra.( All the oldies know this one) She prepares hers a long time - over a year- before it is consumed.

[vcpilot]

Around five years ago, over a period of a year, i ate foods with raw pla raa, not knowing about the health risks. Is there a test i can take to see if i'm infected? Can i kill any possible flukes in my liver or is it too late to prevent possible further damage?

[zlodnick]

Not so sure I would ask for somtam without plaraa. I dont think they would disinfect and sterilize all the utensils that they have been using.

Also, whats all this about getting hepatitis b and c from pla raa? I thought those virus', were only transferred human to human?

[smccolley]

I am also curious if there is a test you can take to find the liver flukes. My wife eats this all the time and insists it is safe. I would like to have her tested if I could...

[The Deerhunter]

I have been showed by Thais, youtube links to show the surgery on N.E people and the masses of worms and parasites that are occasionally removed in such surgery when performed. It says nothing about the people who do not have surgery. Many of them just die. Among the the more horrifying things I have heard recently is a close family member is now in hospital with severe hemorrhoids and is surprised that he still has them because he treated them himself with shrimp paste. That is fermented crustaceans inserted into a part of the body which is there to absorb stuff out of what you eat after it has been properly processed. Shrimp paste taken in the normal manner at least gets treated by your stomach acids, but not when it is applied from the wrong end. Scary what people will do!

[trigpoint]

When we lived in the uk and friends or workmen came round and my wife from nong khai was or had been cooking with plaa raa, they would run like we had the plague, some asked if it was safe to call around as well. Never touched it myself. I think a lot of people die of liver failure in issan due to to much lao kao as well.

[Lammbock]

Google "Terrible Food"

[maidee]

dangerous or not, people will continue to eat it

and thanks to the free hospitals & health care, even they never paid 1 baht of tax, they will be treated

so no need to worry at all

[trigpoint]

dangerous or not, people will continue to eat it

and thanks to the free hospitals & health care, even they never paid 1 baht of tax, they will be treated

so no need to worry at all

only if you go to the hospital in your amphur, otherwise you will be charged.

[h90]

Would you eat sauce made from dirty socks? if NO.. forget the Plaa ra..

It has a good reason that we have a nose....One reason is to figure out if something is safe to eat. When you smell Plaa Ra my nose tells me: "Rotten, do NOT eat".

It is an instinct.

How do you explain cheese?

Give cheese to someone who didn't got in touch with it as child...Thai or Chinese that were not in contact with western products, they'll find it absolute disgusting. In particular these cheese with mold.

It is rotten, just we learned how to do it with bacteria and mold that don't produce toxins. Rarely it happens that some cheese got the wrong bacteria or mold and is toxic so there are always tests on it.

The old times it was a way to let it rotten in a controlled way so afterwards it is stable and can be stored.

Pla Ra is similar but without control.....

[lvr181]

Pla Ra cooked = Yes

Pla Ra uncooked = No

Advised by nurse friend raised in Isaan She knows about liver fluke.

Edited June 11, 2015 by lvr181

[timmyp]

This thread is dead, but I just wanted to add this.

Just now I was just listening to a popular Japanese news program, and apparently a law has just been passed in Japan forbidding the sale of raw pork liver at restaurants. The newscasters were lamenting on how unfortunate this is, how they will miss eating raw pork liver. The new requirements are that the pork liver must be applied to a heat of 70 degrees for at least 2 minutes, after which it can be sold legally.

[dageurreotype]

I thought it was common sense not to take antibiotics without a good reason to do so! Popping antibiotics just-in-case is the entire reason antibiotics are becoming less effective (to say nothing of what that is doing to your body!).

It's not true,

They put antibiotics in animal feed, so whenever you eat meat you get a low level dose ..... and that's why bugs are becoming resistant.

Which is why I needn't worry as I'm a vegetarian. And smug

[thedemon]

I thought it was common sense not to take antibiotics without a good reason to do so! Popping antibiotics just-in-case is the entire reason antibiotics are becoming less effective (to say nothing of what that is doing to your body!).

It's not true,

They put antibiotics in animal feed, so whenever you eat meat you get a low level dose ..... and that's why bugs are becoming resistant.

Which is why I needn't worry as I'm a vegetarian. And smug

I don't think that will help you in this case. The antibiotic resistance of the bacteria is built up in the general population over time and they are then just as likely to attack you as a non-vegetarian.

[trigpoint]

according to my issan missus, Plaa Ra and its associated parasites and germs is fine if its washed down with Lao Khao which will kill all known germs 100%, bit like Dettol, which tastes better anyway.

[Sheryl]

Not true. It does not kill parasite larvae.

If it were true, given drinking habits in much of Issan, there would not be the large public health problem with fluke and its sequelae that there is.

[i claudius]

How anyone can eat this Crap really amazes me,cooked or not,

[DonaldBattles]

Once a dog starts to shit you can never make him stop.

[DonaldBattles]

Corrected:

Once a dog starts to eat shit you can never stop him.

[optad]

.....google ascacris.

I am a bit sorry i did that.

[krisb]

why don't you just order papaya salad without pla ra....... you can eat it anywhere without it.

and ,,,,,don't think papaya salad is the only food they put pla ra in.

just when you order any food in the Isaan , say you don't want any pla ra in it. (e.g. Laab )

Just ask for "som tam Thai" and you'll not get the stinky sauce.

Yeah you get the stinky crab instead.

[maxme]

Depending on how clean they make it and if its boiled well. Last time, which is quite long time ago, i tried it in my somtam i ended up spending a night in the hospital.

[trigpoint]

Depending on how clean they make it and if its boiled well. Last time, which is quite long time ago, i tried it in my somtam i ended up spending a night in the hospital.

clean, issan??? no surprise about being in hospital, did they treat you for a bad stomach, or gout, anything they can dream up and get away with? and get a large bill.

Sorry, I,ve been here to long, rose coloured specs long gone.