This article may help you to know how to prevent food poisoning when traveling abroad.
1. Talk with your doctor or other provider of health care services to receive useful advices before traveling abroad.
2. Choose reputable restaurants in the destinations. Although it is very difficult and not easy to determine how popular restaurant is while traveling, but you can listen to the experiences of friends, travel agents, or other reputable sites on the internet.
For example, when searching on the internet, you can enter key words like “tips for eating in Vietnam” or “the best restaurant in Vietnam” to find some reliable forums, where everyone share experiences and discuss dishes at your destinations.
You should go to the restaurant located in crowded and famous tourist areas. Restaurants there must always maintain high standards because of the long-term business, so they do not want to lose their reputation with problems that customers may encounter.
3. Be careful when eating food from vendors on the street. Because vendors are often unlicensed and do not focus on controlling food safety, hence the ingredients which they often use may have low quality.
4. Observing and inspecting the restaurant before entering. This gives you a clear view over the hygiene of the restaurant. For example, check the hygiene and cleanliness of table cloths, check out the menu, and observe the serving process and behavior of the staff.
5. Eating hot, cooked food or types of fresh food has been peeled. Food was cooked thoroughly will be less bacteria, while peeled food (such as banana or orange) are not exposed to environment where bacteria is living.
6. Uncooked seafood may contain contaminants, while dairy products may contain ingredients that are not sterilized, or has not been stored at appropriate temperatures.
7. Drink bottled water or purified water only. Many countries do not have a water filtration system so water and ice are often poisonous.
8. Just eat a small meal or just try a little on the strange foods. Because in case you have to eat a food is not hygienic, your body may fight food poisoning entirely or you are slightly affected, safer than you eat a large meal.
9. Wash your hand thoroughly before eating. This habit can reduce the number of bacteria live on your hands. Especially if your body has never been exposed to the bacteria in the strange country, which means your body does not have the ability to fight those bacteria.
