Food Safety
Chapter 11 : Food Safety Secrets
In Mexico I saw a cardboard box of meat sit un-refrigerated
for three days. It was still for sale when I left town. It occurred
to me that although I wouldn't buy meat from that store, the
restaurant I ate at might. Use common sense. The kitchen won't
be cleaner than the tables. Notice signs of cleanliness, and
wipe the edge of our glass before you drink.
My wife and I eat almost anywhere, and have so far been healthy
during our travels. We keep a small plastic bottle of waterless
hand-sanitizer gel handy, and use it before meals when traveling.
It often isn't the food that gets you sick, but the bacteria
from your hands, which have been touching money and other biologically
active things all day.
Wash your hands a lot, use sanitizer, and you'll cut the risk
of illness in half.
Not sure which restaurants are clean and safe? Ask the locals.
Also, watch to see what local residents do when eating. Do they
refuse the milk, or do they bring their own soup spoons?
If you're in an area where the standards of cleanliness and
food safety are just plain lower than you like, you can look
for a restaurant owned by someone from a country with higher
standards (Germany, perhaps?).
Carry iodine pills to make purified water. Eat fruit washed
in your iodine-water, and you can even maintain a healthy diet
while traveling.
If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion
and avoid the people, you might better stay home. - James
Michener
Continue with Chapter 12 here: Hostels
Note: This chapter on food safety was part of the e-book
Travel Secrets. Now all chapters are free on this site.
See the homepage (the link is at the bottom of this page) for
a list of all chapters and links to them.
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