Keep meat away from rats, says Chiang Mai Environmental Health office

[webfact]

Keep Meat Away from Rats, Says Environmental Health Office
by CityNews



CityNews – December 15th, following the viral video clip of rats gnawing on a pile of pork at a market in the city, Monwipa Sirihorachai, head of the Environmental Health, Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office has asked (by stating the rather obvious) that vendors keep their meat from rats and other animals and insects to meet hygiene standards.

According to Monwipa, ten different disease can be spread by bacteria and viruses carried by rats, including the plague, leptospirosis, and rat-bite fever, which can lead to death.

Full story: http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/keep-meat-away-from-rats-says-environmental-health-office/


-- Chiang City News 2015-12-18

[Caveat Emptor]

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

[zaphod reborn]

Proper food storage and refrigeration are alien concepts in Thailand's food service industry.

[Chicog]

Just look for the reassuring sticker below (available in the market for a handful of Baht).

[worgeordie]

Most likely don't wash their hands after been to the toilet either,recommend

always cook your food well.

regards Worgeordie

[ianf]

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

And people wonder why I refuse to eat pork here in Thailand.

[searcher22]

I'm just recovering from an overnight bout of diarrhea and nausea, probably the result of buying a prepared meal that had been sitting too long at room temperature on a self-serve counter at an upscale supermarket. I probably didn't reheat it long enough. Be careful...danger lurks everywhere!

[camo007]

I got caught yesterday by a nightclub with dirty Ice and glasses. Large establishment and I just found out the men's toilet is used to clean the glasses before each night. Add to this the ice buckets under the light from my phone clearly looked like they were dirty and years old. This club just reopened after renovations this month and i suggest they rushed to reopen...

[bangmai]

Which market was that?

[DanceAllNight]

oh my....

don't show this to the fragile backpackers who are away from home the first time and are in a culture shock

little uptight British girls

[b4n9]

aroy tintin lol

[Taffyfromflint]

I went to one of the larger well known nationwide supermarkets where raw meat is on display in open stands. Yes the stands are refrigerated but the meat at the bottom is semi frozen whereas the meat at the top of the pile is not near cool enough. I picked up a selection of pork ribs and the smell was awful. Standards, what standards. What is to say that the meat is also parasite free? It's not only the markets that do not know how to store meat correctly.

[kiwikeith]

Thailand lags well behind in food hygiene as most of Asia.

An outbreak of plague could easily be on the cards one day.

I only buy from Makro now and after seeing this would never eat pork of a street vendor again.

Then if you want to buy squid and fish in the markets just look at the flies running over the produce, TITS.

[kiwikeith]

I went to one of the larger well known nationwide supermarkets where raw meat is on display in open stands. Yes the stands are refrigerated but the meat at the bottom is semi frozen whereas the meat at the top of the pile is not near cool enough. I picked up a selection of pork ribs and the smell was awful. Standards, what standards. What is to say that the meat is also parasite free? It's not only the markets that do not know how to store meat correctly.

Correct I only buy the cold stuff as some of the stuff on the top of the pile has changed a bit.

Then with chicken I freeze it before using it.

[Taffyfromflint]

I went to one of the larger well known nationwide supermarkets where raw meat is on display in open stands. Yes the stands are refrigerated but the meat at the bottom is semi frozen whereas the meat at the top of the pile is not near cool enough. I picked up a selection of pork ribs and the smell was awful. Standards, what standards. What is to say that the meat is also parasite free? It's not only the markets that do not know how to store meat correctly.

Correct I only buy the cold stuff as some of the stuff on the top of the pile has changed a bit.

Then with chicken I freeze it before using it.

Same in this household, without exception.

[Saan]

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

And people wonder why I refuse to eat pork here in Thailand.

Because you are Muslim?

Do you think chicken is any safer?

[gandalf12]

I got caught yesterday by a nightclub with dirty Ice and glasses. Large establishment and I just found out the men's toilet is used to clean the glasses before each night. Add to this the ice buckets under the light from my phone clearly looked like they were dirty and years old. This club just reopened after renovations this month and i suggest they rushed to reopen...

Never ever let them put ice in your drink, it is the worst thing they can do

[hutchings1963]

Ask a thai to do anything you must be joking,and if a farang says it you should know they know more than us.

[garryjohns]

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

And people wonder why I refuse to eat pork here in Thailand.

Because you are Muslim?

Do you think chicken is any safer?

Exactly! I used to buy chicken tenderloins etc at Macro "fresh" meat display. Now, after seeing on near every occasion, one or more of the locals digging through the portions, often 2 handed, sorting out which ones they want,with their bare hands [even tho' gloves are supplied and i not plastic bags are can be used] i started buying only the factory pre-packed frozen stuff.Bit inconvenient, but less so than the likely effects of eating multi-handled "fresh" meats.

I have watched these people rumage through the meats, going from one to another,and off to seafoods still bare handed and then wipe their hands on their pants, and off they go.This meat juice is then transferred from hands to shopping trolley and money and anything else these dirty bastards touch and eventually the good possibility to you indirectly...

[Taffyfromflint]

When we get a case of Thai belly the Thai's say we have week stomachs. Wait till you see the processed / cooked meat on the same shelf as raw. Perish the thought, I've done more HACCP audits than I care to remember but never would one pass here.

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

And people wonder why I refuse to eat pork here in Thailand.

Because you are Muslim?

Do you think chicken is any safer?

Exactly! I used to buy chicken tenderloins etc at Macro "fresh" meat display. Now, after seeing on near every occasion, one or more of the locals digging through the portions, often 2 handed, sorting out which ones they want,with their bare hands [even tho' gloves are supplied and i not plastic bags are can be used] i started buying only the factory pre-packed frozen stuff.Bit inconvenient, but less so than the likely effects of eating multi-handled "fresh" meats.

I have watched these people rumage through the meats, going from one to another,and off to seafoods still bare handed and then wipe their hands on their pants, and off they go.This meat juice is then transferred from hands to shopping trolley and money and anything else these dirty bastards touch and eventually the good possibility to you indirectly...

Of course we farangs have weak stomachs, or so the Thais think. Like all other H&S standards, weak as the proverbial piss

[FolkGuitar]

Buy your meats, poultry, and seafoods at the Sri Wattana market. They are all on ice, never touched by hordes of shoppers, and fresh-smelling. No rats, virtually no flies. Fresh as can be. I can't stand the shrimp sold in the supermarkets as it always smells off, but the stuff I buy in Sri Wattana is delicious!

Common sense goes a long way... If you see the product treated incorrectly, avoid it. If you see the vendor with dirty clothes, avoid his/her stall.

Avoid buying the prepared dishes as you never know how long they've been standing around. Could well be yesterday's goods...

We've been buying all our fresh foods from Sri Wattana market for the past three years and never had a single bit of trouble, nor meats, poultry, or seafood that was 'off' in any way.

[connda]

Hence, you cook your pork very well.

[slipperylobster]

I am having difficulties eating ground pork, since seeing the rat video. I keep thinking that, after the lion's share of the pork (on top of the pile) is sold, the rest gets scrapped into a bucket (rat droppings/piss/hair included), and ground into the next day's offering.

[mercman24]

you see these street vendors selling duck/chicken hung up in their hand carts for 10+ hours in direct sunlight, yep that does it for me - Not ..

[Catoni]

Most likely don't wash their hands after been to the toilet either,recommend

always cook your food well.

regards Worgeordie

During four months in Chiang Mai and in a Lisu village in the mountains north west of Chiang Dao, ( I was the only westerner there in that village, stayed with a family for a few days around the Chinese New Year) ..I ate food I was not even sure what it was. Always had ice in my drinks at bars and restaurants in Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao.

Ate mostly street food from the vendors... Never got sick once.

Medical experts say you have to live in another country for at least seven years for your body's immunity defences to get used to the type of bacteria in that part of the world.

But I took Dukoral before I left Canada... an oral vaccine, it gives you two years protection agains Cholera, and at least three months protection from the most common causes of food poisoning "Delhi Belly" "Thai Belly" "Montezuma's Revenge" "Cairo Two-Step" or.. more recently.... in Thailand: "Thai Dal-Wave" etc...

https://www.dukoralcanada.com

It ain't total protection... maybe 60% - 85 % protection... but better than nothing.... I never got sick in Thailand eating the way Thais eat... and eating village food in the mountains and having ice in my drinks at bars I didn't care if there were a few ants or something on the food in the village.. And if everyone else was eating it... I did also. Never got sick.... Was I just lucky ? ?

I didn't get any side effects from taking Dukoral.

The worst case of food poisoning I ever had.... I got at a market in Toronto, Canada years ago.. Eating a macaroni salad. Nausea, vomiting and watery diarrhea like crazy, bad pain and cramps in my abdomen, and high fever... ... so horrible..went to the hospital... The thought actually crossed my mind that death might be better..

It can get you anywhere in the world.. even if the place looks clean... and the food looks fresh and smells okay...... the bacteria could have been on it for only a short time.. because someone didn't wash their hands... and your body is not used to a certain bacteria.. and the food has not been kept cold... allowing bacteria to multiply...

Edited December 18, 2015 by Catoni

[ggt]

Thailand lags well behind in food hygiene as most of Asia.

An outbreak of plague could easily be on the cards one day.

I only buy from Makro now and after seeing this would never eat pork of a street vendor again.

Then if you want to buy squid and fish in the markets just look at the flies running over the produce, TITS.

Ahh...the sights, sounds, and smells of Thailand...this is what we came here for...isn't it? I personally enjoy purchasing food from the mobile vendors who line the streets...this is Thailand...not a Western country where the government over regulates.

[jacko45k]

People have to be told to do this ?

Just as bad as the proposal to hold ' parenting ' classes.

And people wonder why I refuse to eat pork here in Thailand.

Some may now stop eating rat too!

[Puwa]

Buy your meats, poultry, and seafoods at the Sri Wattana market. They are all on ice, never touched by hordes of shoppers, and fresh-smelling. No rats, virtually no flies. Fresh as can be. I can't stand the shrimp sold in the supermarkets as it always smells off, but the stuff I buy in Sri Wattana is delicious!

Common sense goes a long way... If you see the product treated incorrectly, avoid it. If you see the vendor with dirty clothes, avoid his/her stall.

Avoid buying the prepared dishes as you never know how long they've been standing around. Could well be yesterday's goods...

We've been buying all our fresh foods from Sri Wattana market for the past three years and never had a single bit of trouble, nor meats, poultry, or seafood that was 'off' in any way.

Siri Watthana (not Sri) was my local market for many years. I wouldn't say it's any different, better, or worse than any other wet market in town. Why would it be? You are probably just a careful preparer of your food, which is what matters most, I guess.

[FolkGuitar]

Buy your meats, poultry, and seafoods at the Sri Wattana market. They are all on ice, never touched by hordes of shoppers, and fresh-smelling. No rats, virtually no flies. Fresh as can be. I can't stand the shrimp sold in the supermarkets as it always smells off, but the stuff I buy in Sri Wattana is delicious!

Common sense goes a long way... If you see the product treated incorrectly, avoid it. If you see the vendor with dirty clothes, avoid his/her stall.

Avoid buying the prepared dishes as you never know how long they've been standing around. Could well be yesterday's goods...

We've been buying all our fresh foods from Sri Wattana market for the past three years and never had a single bit of trouble, nor meats, poultry, or seafood that was 'off' in any way.

Siri Watthana (not Sri) was my local market for many years. I wouldn't say it's any different, better, or worse than any other wet market in town. Why would it be? You are probably just a careful preparer of your food, which is what matters most, I guess.

I'd say 'careful purchaser' of food. When in the meat/seafood area, I chose the tables that had the cleanest looking displays, meats sitting on, and surrounded by lots of ice. I ALWAYS buy from the same vendor. One for pork, one for chicken, and one for seafood. When I want ground meats or chicken, I grind it myself. I realize that those grinders in the meat room 'may' get cleaned once a day... maybe. But I do that when buying ground meats from supermarkets too. It's 5 minutes extra time to do it at home, and I'm in no hurry when I cook. I choose vegetables that look fresh and healthy, and wash them before cooking. There is often a lot of dirt clinging to root vegetables, and eating dirt isn't normally on my menu. Although I do purchase grilled meats and fish, I only take items fresh from the grill, rather than the ones that are piled up waiting. I won't buy pre-made foods sitting in metal bowls, no matter how good they look, UNLESS I happen to be there when they are just coming off the stove! I'm sure these vendors don't throw away yesterday's unsold foods...Once I learned how easy it is to cook Thai dishes, there was no need for me to have to risk day-old food, and I can adjust the tastes to family preferences.

[springheeled jack]

i have noticed the street vendors seem to have dropped the hygiene habit and have fallen back into the old routine fining one or two will bring them back into line , hygiene is very important when handling food these people must be taught that.