Food hygiene in Thailand

[cdnmatt]

"I think you're probably ok with sticky rice, but steamed rice I'd be careful of."

Matt, just how do you think "sticky rice" is made?

What? Do you know how sticky rice is made? I lived in Khon Kaen for 8 years, os obviously I do. It's made quite a bit differently than steamed rice, but more importantly, is stored totally different. Sticky rice is stored in a dry container with no added heat, usually one of those baskets with a lid, or a rount ice box / cooler thing. Whereas steamed rice is generally stored in a warm and humid rice cooker.

Do you have a rice cooker at home? Have you ever made rice for dinner, then accidentally forgot about it, and left rice in the cooker overnight? Not exactly appetizing in the morning, is it? And sometimes restaurants do just that, but instead of throwing the rice out in the morning, they go ahead and sell it.

This is well know, and although obviously doesn't happen at every place, it definitely happens. There's been a good number of news reports of people getting sick due to that.

Up to you, but I always preferred to cook my own rice at home, even if we were grabbing lunch / dinner from the market. Besides, most people use either those blue or green bags of rice, which was fine I guess, but I always preferred the red stuff. Tad more expensive, but was larger and fluffier grains.

[Nirish guy]

Try telling my PH bf that you CAN get sick from reheating rice - I can show him 100 web pages, NHS studies, news paper reports of proven cases of complete schools being closed down due to the kids been sick and that being proven to be because of them reheating rice ( well storing it incorrectly and reheating it more perhaps) but will he listen - will he hell as like, I get a shrug of the shoulders with a look like "what, you, a white man, are talking to ME about rice - fuck off would you"

And the annoying thing is we haven't actually died YET - mind you I think that's more as I'm sneaking into the kitchen and putting it into the fridge at the earliest possible moment whereas he would think nothing of leaving it sitting out ( covered) in a bowl over night - which for everything I've read is EXACTLY where all the problems start ! But hey, what would I know as I'm only a white man ( it seems !)

Thankfully I've now got him at least half into the way of only using those 2 minute to microwave bags of rice now and chucking whatever is not eaten on the bin so my chances of going down with something shitty have been significantly reduced somewhat of late it seems.

Now, if only I could get him to also then cover any other food we leave or he cooks and then box it and put IT back in to the fridges well then I'd REALLY be winning - but alas no chance there either it seems - and the same goes for maybe closing ANY cupboard door behind him that he opens or closing the fridge door when he's finished in there for that matter too ! - Come to think of it the guy is a bloody health and safety liability claim on legs - god love his employers ! :-)

[cdnmatt]

Oh, your guy isn't exactly a fan of lids either? Yeah, I have the same problem with my guy. I was able to successfully convince him to put shit into the fridge instead of just leaving it out on the counter overnight, so that was good. Although, I suspect that was mainly because the dogs would keep stealing his food if he didn't.

Was unable to convince him to use lids though. The guy takes up about 75% of the fridge, leaves stuff in there uncovered for like 5 days then actually eats it, etc. All the while, there's things like sandwich meat in there, plus whatever I'm defrosting for dinner that night.

Once I finally get back to Asia, maybe we'll just have to get him his own separate fridge. He could use one anyway with the amount of shit he puts in there. Any given time, he has about 8 different food dishes sitting there.
I tell you NIrish, the shit we put up with for a bit of love.

[paborn]

Matt, I was not commenting on the storage of any food including rice. Bacteria grow at 40 to 140 F - in any kitchen, western or Thai, leftover food must go directly into the frig. At refrigerator temps, there is no problem. But, as food cools down it is right in the growth zone of bacteria.

I was pointing out that sticky rice ( s short grain variety ) and long grain regular rice are both steamed. They are, then, handled differently. I would not be comfortable with any food not stored correctly. This is why I do not eat street food other grilled chicken right off the grill in Thailand. Street vendors do not have the proper facilities to be sure food is handled properly. However, research has shown that most people get sick because there is no real way to clean the reused dishes in really hot water.

Everything I see here refers to the improper handling of food. It has, again, nothing to do with Thai food, Western food or Indian food. It has to do with the improper handling of the food. By the way, I have two rice cookers so guests can have white or brown and, years ago, I took the Thai cooking courses that are offered by the Oriental Bangkok - yes, I can cook rice. It is the storage of same that is the issue.

[cdnmatt]

Sticky rice is dryed out immediately after it's cooked, whereas steamed rice sits in that warm and humid rice cooker.

What are we arguing about here?

You're right, sticky rice after a day or two probably isn't the safeest option either, but it's a whole lot more safe than steamed rice after a day or two. Most times sticky rice will just dry out and get too hard to eat, whereas steamed rice turns into a bowl of mold soup.

Yes, I know there's unsafe food practices all over the world, hence why I said in my first reply to this thread not to worry too much. All you have to do is watch some Kitchen Nightmares episodes to find out. heh, I remember about a month ago Steven Colbert interviewed Gordan Ramsay about his new show, and asked what's the most disgusting thing he saw in a kitchen during taping of that 24 hours to Hell or whatever it's called. Ramsay replied saying he once say a dead rat stuck in a toaster, and upon calling out the owner on it, she replied with, "oh, it's ok, we don't use that side of the toaster, we only use the other side", lol.

Nonetheless, I still think my steamed rice in the morning warning is a good one for SE Asian countries. I'll be living back in SE Asia shortly here, and plan to continue that little rule, but to each their own.

[paborn]

Matt, you are right with one thing, "what are we arguing about?" I repeat bacteria grow as a result of poor handling - period.

[frequent]

A friend of mine - a fellow diabetic who is way more anal about his diet than me - who abjures freshly steamed jasmine rice (very high sugar content) happily tucks in to steamed jasmine rice that has been left overnight. Something about the re-heating process minimises the sugar he tells me. Following is a link to the Glycemic Index of most forms of rice, but not jasmine rice. The lower the GI, the less bad the rice is for you. Jasmine rice has a high GI, somewhere in the range 70-80; others put it even higher

https://www.yourdiabeteshub.com/maki...nice-diabetes/

[frequent]

What? Do you know how sticky rice is made? I lived in Khon Kaen for 8 years, os obviously I do. It's made quite a bit differently than steamed rice, but more importantly, is stored totally different.

Since sticky rice is a completely different variety of rice than jasmine rice, should we be generous and assume that by "made" you mean "cooked"? Or do we continue with the other working hypothesis that you haven't a clue (about most things)?

[cdnmatt]

Oh fuck, really? Yes, I meant cooked.

Honestly, I have no idea how it's grown, because as it turns out, I've never worked as a rice farmer in Thailand before.

Definitely know how it's cooked though.

[frequent]

Honestly, I have no idea how it's grown, because as it turns out, I've never worked as a rice farmer in Thailand before.

I'm denying any rumours that I am one of the rice farmers in this picture:

ThaiRiceFarmer.jpg