Eating local foods is the best way to explore the culture of places you’re going to. However, when you’re travelling abroad, away from your lovely kitchen, you’ll be likely to get sick because of contaminated food and this can totally ruin your holiday. But don’t panic, you can totally prevent food borne illness with just some simple tips for safe travel.
Food safety tips:
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Contents
Watch out for tap water and bottled water
When traveling abroad, keep in mind to be careful every time you drink. In many countries, especially in developing countries, tap water is not suitable for drinking. Instead, you should boil it or buy bottle water. However, many bottles are refilled from dirty or even contaminated sources so make sure to check that the seal is intact.
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Eat more spices to keep safe travel
No matter how cautious you are, risk of bad food is everywhere. Good news is that spices like chilies or turmeric can lower this risk thanks to their anti-bacterial properties.
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Look for crowds
People won’t return a restaurant if they used to get sick eating that food or even if the restaurant is suspected to serve unsafe dishes. Thus, the more crowded it looks, the more trusted it may be and the less likely you will get sick, that’s the next tip for food safety while traveling.
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Look at the seller
Don’t eat food from a vendor who doesn’t practice good hygiene. If her finger nails are dirty and she wear no protective gloves, no one can tell her food is safe.
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Avoid raw or under-cooked food
Raw food is subject to bacteria and contamination, especially when it comes to meat and seafood. So, try to avoid these things if possible.
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Avoid fruit that has already been peeled
Rules for safe travel are also applied to fruits, especially in countries that foods are contaminated with special chemicals to last long. Also, when it comes to peeled fruits, you never know if people practice good hygiene or not. Even worse, some fruits may be damaged so peeling will help to sell out them.
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Sanitize “high touch” areas
However often you wash your hands, they can always carry a certain amount of bacteria. Hence, “high touch” things on planes, buses or trains are home to billion of germs. So, be careful with these.
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Apply the one-hour rule
The next rule for safe travel is the rule of one-hour. The rule goes simply like if the food has been out more than one hour, you better not eat that, especially when the temperature is higher than 90oF.
Travelers are sometimes warned against eating food from street vendors. But I think that you must regret because street food is something really unique of each country. So, try to determine if the food is fresh, hygiene clean, and food is thoroughly cooked.
What to do if you get sick?
If you’re unlucky and get sick on your trip:
- First, see a local doctor if available. A travel insurance may smooth the procedure then.
- o Also, drink plenty of fluidsto protect yourself from dehydration – the main danger of diarrhea.
- o Or, take an oral rehydration solution, to make upfor lost minerals and salts from diarrhea
All in all, be careful with everything you eat, apply these rules of food safety while traveling and you’re at lower risk to get sick. Healthy travel is a happy travel.
Refer some travel tips about foods and drinks should be avoided before flights here
