i strongly suspect that these people getting sick is from intentional poisioning. the question is who and why. is it some lone nut? a group of people
wanting the tourists gone? especially since most of the poisonings seem to be happening at the hotels and seemingly only hitting tourists and not the
general native population.
originally posted by: JAGStorm
www.cbsnews.com...
I will say this. I lived overseas and we were warned do not drink the water right away. The locals could guzzle it without any incident but it would.
make Americans sick as dogs. They did not use much refrigeration over there either and their stomachs could handle it. I remember seeing raw chickens
just hanging outside in 80 degrees. The smell was just terrible, but this is what those people grew up on and they could handle it no problem. I
almost think they were immune to salmonella.
It makes you wonder in a SHTF type of scenario would those type of people be more apt to survive? Do Americans eat too clean, too pure, too
refrigerated, too processed? Are all those things actually making us much much weaker?
the water issue can be very bad. in the Philippines it's not just foreigners that have issues with the water. but people from other areas, people who
can drink the water where they are from. seems there are many bugs and bacteria in the water. but you can and do build resistance to it after awhile.
but it's not a major issue since there are all sorts of water filtration/purifier businesses everywhere. and at a reasonable price of under $1 for
about 20 liters. and they pick up your empty containers and deliver them back full. pretty much everyone keeps buys the water that way. likely why i
have never seen a drinking fountain anywhere, just too dangerous, since you can actually get ill enough to die, if you don't just suffer for a week or
two, wishing for death.
the lack of refrigeration is a completely different issue, or should i say non-issue. it may not be refrigerated. but it generally is not out of the
ice (another huge business here since many people don't even have a refrigerator at home (or a stove for that matter some having a hotplate, but many
cooking on cheap coal or wood since electricity is rather expensive, and many homes not being big enough to have such big appliances), long enough to
make a difference. normally the stuff they have out is sold rather quickly. and the fact is there may only be a couple hours between slaughter and
being sold all total. i have friends that own chicken booths they slaughter the chickens starting at about 5am. they start selling them at about 6.
they may sell through well over 150 chickens before 8am (at which point they close). same with pork. it's killed and sold on the same day. and you
have to get there early to get a good choice. things that are expected to be there awhile are kept on ice. like fish and seafood kept on ice on
display. or chicken and meat stocks kept in cold strange until needed. in fact the only issue is beef. and that is not due to bacteria, but because it
has not been aged, again being normally slaughtered and sold the same day. which means it is tough (also doesn't help that a lot of the beef is from
cows and bulls too old to work the fields anymore). so for the most part we try to get Australian or American beef. but all other meat, fish, and
seafood come from the same wet markets as everyone else's. the very ones that just have the stuff out in the open. and we have never gotten sick from
it.
eggs on the other hand are not kept cold at all. in fact a guy at church brings in a van load of eggs with him every Sunday. and they are just left
in the truck outside for a few hours while he is in church. since unlike silly countries they don't need to be kept cold (think about it, how do
chickens survive if their eggs go bad in the heat?). the main thing is that if you wash the eggs, they must be kept cold because you have removed the
protective coating that keeps out bacteria. and once kept cold they have to stay that way because condensation also removes that coating. in fact eggs
can last even in over 100f heat for days. it took a bit of getting used to, to see eggs on normal shelves and not in coolers even in major grocery
stores.
and the thing is things like salmonella poisoning and food poisoning are very rare. and when it does happen, it tends to make the evening news. unlike
in the US and Canada where the last few years there seem to be huge food recalls almost daily due to things like salmonella and other bacteria that
cause food poisoning and sickness, in just ab out every type and source of food, from fresh foods, to prepackaged foods. and by the way this includes
foreigners not having any issues. it's not the people's stomachs that are the difference. but the difference in food handling in general. it seems all
those "advanced" food handling practices in North America, are likely doing more harm than good. of and just so you know. most people don't even have
hot water at all. sure some rich people might have a North American style hot water system, or a major restaurant. but other than that the only hot
water some people might have is a inline water heater on their shower, if they are well off and decide they want it. that means almost no hand or
dishwashing in non cold water. in fact a friend who worked at a beverage mix plant had an American executive come to check them out. and was
absolutely horrified that not only did no one have hot water at home, but there was no hot water for hand and equipment washing at the factory. and
immediately insisted they get it. including compulsory showers for the staff. which the employees all loved because they could have hot showers on the
company dime, without even having to pay for the water. and yet again no one gets sick from this. it has really made me question if the sanitation
practices in "advanced countries" are actually causing more harm than good. since everything i was taught
had to be done, or you would get
sick, seems to be false when it comes to things like food safety.