Food Hygiene & Sanitation

Becki

hahah...I was going to mention Ramsay at one point!
There would not be enough swearing from him if he went to India I think....

But here's a point....I live in Oz. Even here, Indian restaurants are unfortunately stereotyped to be not particularly hygienic.

kalbarri

an indian doctor told me that stomach problems there are common. when you get to india you will work out why it is difficult to educate and organise all of the huge population there, but i agree, it will definitely have to improve on hygiene.

wonderwomanusa

Some of the problem is, indeed, hygienic kitchen practices, and I also believe that another part of the problem is Asian vs. Western organisms in the food.

I think I've now spent enough time in So. Asia that I have both sorts of "flora" in my digestive track, and over the last three visits to India, have had very few days of stomach problems.

But curd will do it every time -- go figure!

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Haylo

Just from what I know about India without even having visited yet...

To provide even the water treatment plants would be a massive undertaking. A far wider issue is the immense costs of installing modern leak free pipework to service unimaginable numbers of dwelling places which have sprung up without any planning process or even ownership of the land, and for which there are no records of who is resident, or who could be billed.

To put this into perspective... For many years in England, where all properties are recorded and billed for their water, we have had massive increases in water costs (over 20% in London last year alone) which were supposed to pay for fixing the leaks in the pipework. Despite this, they have failed to meet their leak reduction targets year after year, and last year they lost nearly 900 million litres of water through leaky pipework.

As I understand it, the water supply in India (where it exists) is not pressurised, so groundwater can seep into the supply. To provide a safe (and therefore pressurised) water supply would involve replacing ALL the pipework.

If London can't even keep up with fixing its leaks, what chance does India have of installing a new system entirely from scratch?

capt_mahajan

Yep. Not just groundwater, in some cases, sewage, too.

Nick-H

You might find that girl who serves you in the supermarket has a degree: you might be hard-pushed to find anyone in a small restaurant that even completed their schooling, let alone formally studied catering. You might find that the cook lives in a hut, that all the water they had was carried home from the pump, or that the washing up was done under the pump, or, where I've just been for the last week, in the public canal or river passing the house, with everything else in the water.

Even with education, I guess one's idea of 'hygiene' comes from one's family background: it probably didn't include reliably clean water and Fairy Liquid.

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ronsaik

True, but so is India' target of adding more than twice Australia's installed power generation capacity by 2012. Costs are not an issue in India - in any sort of infrastructure project. The real issues are about governance - there are too many people who'll end up gaming the system / stealing / simply not paying up for 'public goods'. That's as much a mindset issue as a political one. And we have only Britain to thank for leaving us with this legacy of an imbecilic parliamentary system of government.

It's easier to install new infrastructure than to replace an ageing network.

ronsaik

Judging from the predilection of tourists on IM to shack up in Rs 200-a-night-rooms, have 20-rupee breakfasts at nondescript railway stations with rickshawallahs for company, one would think that it's they who are pretty much 'eating anywhere'!

MonkeyQueen

i would say the worst thing is tap water, its not dangerous to shower or brush your teeth but when you drink it...ohhhh i've tried it once at a friend's place here in noida & immediately felt sick & dizzy, had to lie down for a while, im also suspicious of a coke i had in McD's in a mall cause i had a very bad next day i ate veg. food at various medium clean places so far & had no problems but i had very spicy breakfast twice & got some serious stomach problems, luckily, it seems to be better after eating light food, they have something called cherry bread which helps me slow down digestion & some non-spicy rice always helps

puchoo

Never a good idea when it comes to Noida , i essentially drink tap water in Delhi all the time and rarely filter it which either says a lot for the quality of the water or my stomach but even i would never have tap water in Noida, i havent fallen sick but it tastes awful..

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MonkeyQueen

actually, everyone here is terrified of tap water & we have some kind of filtered water at home...it tastes but doesnt cause any problems, although i've noticed today our water container is becoming green at the bottom, i think we're growing something there

it has become a story to tell everyone how our friend had a fridge full of sweets & ice cream but skimped on water

kristinm

Did you hear about that guy that died after eating at a very smart restaurant here in Sydney recently.. asparagus sauce had been reheated and reused something like 5 days running! After seeing Gordon Ramsay's show in the UK and US I reckon you could get food poisoning anywhere!

puchoo

The Hulk perhaps!!

Becki

Wonder how and if this problem will ever be fixed in India (and many other developing countries as well). Guess it's a case of disparity - too fast population growth and economy versus poor infrastucture planning and speed to which it can be implemented.
Education would be a good start though.

nosianai

Ewwww.
We observed that too a couple of days ago. And I always thought our water filter filters water. I'm such a goose!

But despite developing shrubbery in the water bottle I've never had a single case of food poisoning or some such thing in six years. BUT India did give me acidity! I have lemon water when I feel queezy, always helps.