Is The Food Safe?

[JJReyes]

In the West, there is an expectation that the food is safe to consume.  They have food safety inspectors making sure manufacturers, food processors, distributors, and retail outlets comply with all kinds of rules to reassure the public that the food is safe.  What about the Philippines?  This is not a life-or-death situation.  Those will make the evening news.  It's something more like coming down with food poisoning and becoming really sick.  What precaution should you take?

In my case, one rule is avoiding certain types of seafood namely: oysters, clams, mussels and other shellfish.  While I enjoy consuming them, you just don't know the source.  Many shorelines, bays and inlets in the Philippines are highly polluted.  Chances are squid, fish, prawns, etc. harvested from the ocean is safer, in my opinion.  I love salmon but I try to stick to farm raised in Norway or ocean harvest.  The consumption of beef, pork and chicken seems to be okay in the Philippines.  The cooking method is over boil, over fried, and over grilled.  Bacteria don't have a chance.  The hot chilis they add is probably going to kill the remainder.

[BrettGC]

If PI implemented a food hygiene rating on restaurants and food vendors similar to Singapore, there'd be a lot fewer business open I reckon.  Singapore's system is 1 to 5 stars and I remember when it was implemented a lot of businesses either got up to standard or were forcibly closed down.  Even if they did achieve a 2 or 3 star rating, they lost business to the 4 and 5 star rated establishments.  Personally, when in Singapore, I  tend to only frequent 5 star hygiene rated venues as it may be that lack of even 1 star that gets you.  I remember on a layover in Changi I bought a laksa (Malaysian curry soup) and ended up having to go to the pharmacy to by some immodium.  Thankfully it was 4 hours prior to my flight to Manila so the meds had time to kick in before boarding.  This was at a 4 star venue - close  to the Starbucks in terminal 2, for those that want to know. 

As for here in PI not really great food hygiene, particularly in the major metro areas.  Maybe a little better in "The Province" in that a lot of the time it's been caught/slaughtered the day it's bought or consumed.  Having said that, the danger of cross contamination is extremely high everywhere eg:  someone cutting up meat then using the same cutting board and knife unwashed on vegetables etc, displaying meat and vegetables together, displaying food for too long (even the western franchised cafes here like Starbucks are guilty of this), not washing food prior to preparation, unrefrigerated meat on display for who knows how long.. I could go on. 

[Kingpin]

4 hours ago, JJReyes said:

one rule is avoiding certain types of seafood namely: oysters, clams, mussels and other shellfish.  While I enjoy consuming them, you just don't know the source.  Many shorelines, bays and inlets in the Philippines are highly polluted.  Chances are squid, fish, prawns, etc. harvested from the ocean is safer

All the local fish is highly contaminated, and that's before they catch it and let it sit in a bucket all day.

Fish on ice in the supermarket at least doesn't have the latter problem.

3 hours ago, BrettGC said:

the danger of cross contamination is extremely high everywhere

Fish, chicken, beef, pork, I've never seen anyone handling or chopping those up those with gloves on, only bare hands. They seem to know what they're doing though, I've only gotten food poisoning once, and I've only heard about a serious case it once, both times from fish.

[Snowy79]

I was in Robinsons on Boracay earler today looking for chicken breast.  The chicken looked like it had been sat in the sun for a few days.  Most of it looked slighly brown almost like pig skin. zero ice, infact the freezer looked like it was never switched on.  It would have been thrown out a few days before in the UK. I've bought a few banana cakes in a box from there and only after a few visits to the CR noticed mold forming on them.

[Guy F.]

For those who don't know: cooking will kill bacteria, but it will do nothing about the toxins those bacteria have already produced.

I frequently buy street food but it's usually to feed the dogs. Freshly barbecued meat is about the only street food I will consume myself. The noodles and miscellaneous stuff that's been sitting unrefrigerated and unheated for hours is for the dogs.

Buyer beware in the supermarkets.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Guy F.

[mountainside]

6 hours ago, BrettGC said:

I remember on a layover in Changi I bought a laksa (Malaysian curry soup) and ended up having to go to the pharmacy to by some immodium.

Of the airports I've passed through, the one where I would have felt entirely comfortable eating anything anywhere, is Changi.  Now that I've read this thread first thing in the morning, I think it will be a light breakfast for me.  Coffee, dry toast, a bit more coffee . . .

[Onemore52]

In the province where we are there is a lot of open air restaurants down on the recently constructed esplanade on the beach, where they fitted solar lighting, which lasted a couple of months before being stolen, oh well they tried.

Anyway I digress. Along this esplanade a lot of open air restaurants sprung up, all selling the same crap, so when we were invited out by some friends to dine with them we made sure we had a meal before we went there, I ordered a hamburger and a jug of water. The hamburger for me and the water to throw at the cats and dogs hanging around.

A good friend of ours runs a restaurant around the corner where he dishes up a pork roast every Sunday, and good fish, chips and salad, but once again there is cats everywhere. I once asked him how he manages to get a certified by the local health authority, he just said “money talks”. The lavatories don’t work and there is no running water in the wash rooms. When I complain to my GF she just says it is the province get used to it.

As I have mentioned in other posts about the locals driving drunk and bicycle riders wearing dark clothing at  night and motorcycles with out any lights, well this is the area where it happens.

So I use this as an excuse not to go out. And it works.

 

[Joey G]

Last trip... wife refused to eat the pork (from the local province)... her sister told her the pigs were growing so fast they were ready for market in less than a year... the reason... "injections".  

[skippyscage]

cafes etc washing used dishes and plates in cold water, usually with highly watered down soap to save costs

cooked food left out all day after being cooked in the morning and served up cold in the street type restaurants

seafood and meat left on open stalls by the streets from sunrise to night, with traffic fumes and without ice or cooling - packed away in an ice chest (with no ice) and put out the following day - and repeat

food cooked with high degrees of salt/sugar to hide the fact that the meat/fish might be past its best

the only way to guarantee fresh fish/shellfish is to buy directly off a boat at a harbour - everything else you see for sale will have changes hands multiple times and not stored correctly.

I only trust the well run and clean restaurants after being hit multiple times with the runs

people just don't care - they don't want repeat business, it's just what can I make today - short sighted yes, but that's why you find so so many of them all serving the same swill for the locals, who will eat more rice than anything with their meal anyway.

[KC813]

It seems I run across an article every two or three months about a food poisoning incident at a large catered event.  I would guess individual or small group incidents would rarely be newsworthy.

And on cue for this topic, from today:

Over 100 people hit with alleged food poisoning in Sulu after eating snacks provided by AFP —PDRRMO

<snip>

At least 100 individuals in Sulu, many of them children, suffered from alleged food poisoning after eating a snack provided by troops from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) said Monday.

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Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Sulu PDRRMO officer Julkipli Ahijon Jr. said most of them were boy scouts and girl scouts aged nine to 13, who went on a camping trip along with their teachers and parents in a mountain where AFP troops were also deployed. 

Ahijon added that 56 victims were admitted in hospitals, while 46 were tagged as outpatients after eating a dessert called "binignit".

(On their last day, someone sponsored snacks called binignit. After eating the snack, they allegedly got dizzy and started vomiting.)

(There were AFP troops where the camping was held. There were various units there. I couldn't say yet which unit provided the snack as it is still under investigation, but they were soldiers.)

Ahijon also said three victims were in critical condition due to the alleged food poisoning but are now in stable conditions.

Hospitals have also started discharging those who were admitted, he added.

In a statement, Army spokesperson Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said the 8th Field Artillery Battalion (8FAB) of the Army Artillery Regiment served ‘ginataan’ to the attendees of a camp for boy and girl scouts at Camp Bud Datu in Indanan, Sulu on February 25.

"Seventy-eight students and 22 adults, including Pvt. Adawe of 8FAB and Girls Scout Executive Helen Hajan, experienced nausea, stomach ache, and fainting after consuming the prepared food," he said.

Trinidad said 88 patients have been discharged from hospitals and returned to their families. However, 12 students are still confined at the Sanitarium Hospital but they are expected to be discharged soon.

Trinidad, meanwhile, also said that the food samples were already sent to the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) on February 25 for immediate examination.

<snip>

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/regions/862141/over-100-people-hit-with-alleged-food-poisoning-after-eating-snacks-provided-by-afp-pdrrmo/story/

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by KC813