Safe foods and drinks in your Vacation

TRAVELLERS to countries that have low standards of sanitation and hygiene risk getting infectious diseases from contaminated food and drink.

Each year about 30 million international passengers develop traveller’s diarrhoea. Prevention is better than cure. The advice that follows is designed to minimise the chance of picking up a serious disease while travelling overseas.

What diseases can be caught from food and drink?

Diseases that can be contracted from eating and drinking contaminated food and drink include traveller’s diarrhoea, hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid, amoebiasis and giardiasis. Worm infestations such as hookworm and schistosomiasis can also occur.

What is traveler's diarrhoea?

It is a bowel infection acquired while travelling whereby an organism (bug) causes inflammation of the bowel. It has many colourful labels, such as Bali belly, Gippy tummy, Aztec two-step, Delhi belly, Rangoon trots, Hong Kong dog, Turkey trots, Montezuma’s revenge and tourist trots. It occurs about 6-12 hours after taking infected food or water. The most common bug that causes it is Escherichia coli, a bacterium found in human faeces.

What food is unsafe?

Food can be contaminated with bugs before, during or after preparation. Uncooked food poses the highest risk, especially seafood and shellfish.

Salads or uncooked vegetables are often washed in contaminated water.

A useful list of foods to avoid is:

  Uncooked foods; salads or raw vegetables (including watercress); dairy products such as milk, cream and ice-cream; shellfish; sandwiches; buffets (cold, uncooked or continually reheated food); pastries and desserts with filling, especially whipped cream; dressings;

chilled desserts; and intricate dishes requiring a lot of preparation and handling.

  Foods cooked and left unrefrigerated should not be eaten. Be wary of quiche and lasagne which may have been reheated.

  Avoid foods including citrus fruits from street vendors which may have been injected with water. Avoid food cooked early in the day which often sits around and is reheated.

What food is safe?

 Generally, well-cooked food while still hot is safe (reheated food is unsafe). Boiled and well-cooked vegetables are safe. Bananas and fruits with skin are safe once you have peeled them and thrown the skin into a bin. But care should be taken with fruit that may be injected with sugared water to make it look bigger.

 Choose food that is fresh and well cooked and is served steaming hot. Dry foods such as breads, jellies or syrups are generally safe.

What drink is unsafe?

The following drinks are liable to be unsafe:

  Tap water; ice or drinks containing ice; any non-bottled drink or drinks not opened in your presence; fruit juices served in a glass (they often have added water or ice); milk or its products, including yoghurt drinks. Even bottled water is not always absolutely safe.

What drink is safe?

  Boiled water; reputable commercially bottled beverages, especially carbonated drinks such as Coca-Cola and 7-Up; hot coffee and tea (without milk); boiled milk; and alcohol.

  Indian-style tea, in which the milk is boiled with tea, is usually safe but tea with added milk is not.

How can water be treated and made relatively safe?

• Boiling. This is the only completely reliable way to purify water. Boiling it for 10 minutes will kill most germs. It is best to bring the water to a brisk boil — boil for 10 minutes and then cover it while cooling.

• Iodine. Add four drops (0.2mL) of 2% tincture of iodine or eight drops of Betadine antiseptic solution to each litre of clear water (more for cloudy water). Iodine is more effective than chlorine but has an unpleasant taste.

• Chlorine. This is less effective than iodine but is a suitable agent. Use Puritabs — one tablet per litre of water or two drops (0.1mL) of 5% chlorine bleach per litre of water and let it stand for 30 minutes before drinking.

• Iodine resin water purifiers. Examples are Travel Well and Trekker. This takes five minutes to be effective and the water is more palatable than the iodine and chlorine- drop method.

• Filters. Various filters are available and they can be a practical method for trekkers when boiling water is difficult. Probably not as effective as the chemical methods.

General rules

• Wash hands with soap and hot water before eating or preparing food.

• Avoid brushing teeth with unsafe water (use treated water or carbonated bottled mineral water).

• Avoid swallowing water in the shower or swimming pools.

• Water provided in reputable hotels and restaurants is usually safe but worth checking.

• The most effective way to purify water is to boil it.

• Be wary of adding ice to drinks. It could be made from contaminated water.

• If you can’t peel it, shell it, boil it or cook it, don’t eat it.