Food safety and precaution related to food in Myanmar (Burma)
Water
It is very easy to find mineral water or soft drinks everywhere in Myanmar .
Tea (which is boiled water) is available everywhere. No worry about drinking in Myanmar.
Nevertheless, never drink tap water, never drink the water freely at your disposal in earth pot in the street (or you are real strong man).
Restaurant
Myanmar is a very poor tropical country. Logically, you should avoid all the uncooked food, salad, ice-cream. But, do not be stress by this point .
Green tomato salad from Inle, lemon salad, ginger salad, and a lot of raw uncooked dishes in Myanmar are delicious.
Ice-cream at Nylon shop in Mandalay are the best in Myanmar.
Just be careful, and adapt yourself.
If you have a guide, follow his advise, he will take no chance for you.
If you travel with us, our guide or program will bring you at place where we go for years without any problem.
And if you like the place, if it is cook just in front of you, even if the smallest shop in the street, dare it, it is often very good.
Know yourself !
It is obvious that the food and cleanness regulation are not the same in Myanmar than in Europe (do not think that Burmese are dirty).
If you know that you may get easily food problem, do not eat so much salad and ice-cream
But, please, do not eat only fried rice and Chinese fried food. You will miss all the real Burmese food, which is very good if you know to walk away from the fried rice.
Every state has in own kind of food, and it is excellent especially in Shan state or in Mogkok area.
Washed your hand
Usually, food contamination comes from dirty hands (not from the restaurant, from yourself). The same hand that you have used all the day to open every door, to go the toilets and you will used it to it a fruit or something else.
Wash your hand, it is simple and very effective (even with dirty water sale and soap, it is better than nothing).
You can find easily in pharmacy disinfecting jelly that you do not need to rinse (no water needed). It is the best when you can not get water AND soap.
If you get sick, use the right drug !!
Ask to your doctor what are the best drugs for you.
Usually in a tropical country:
- Avoid aspirin that may cause additional problem with some tropical disease, use paracetamol,
- Avoid drugs like "Imodium" if you have diahorea AND fever. This drug is too much effective and will stop your infection in your body instead of flushing it away. Bad idea.
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National Food Law Amendment (16/8/2013) by Ko Nge on Scribd
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Food Safety and Standards Eastasia 2013 c by Ko Nge on Scribd
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FDA Myanmar Department of Health ~ AD813E.pdf by Ko Nge on Scribd
Is Food In Yangon Safe and Hygenic?
November , 2014
Myanmar is one of the hottest des- tinations as much for the avid touristss as for people across the globe wishing to participate in a country’s
development, who enthusiastically shift base to this once pariah
country. For both, living conditions and access to edible, safe and
hygienic food is a major consideration. While drastic transformation is
evident in both, in the last three years, I wonder if we can say with
certainty that all the food avail- able in Yangon is safe and hygienic.
Food hygiene comes gradually and is seem- ingly
linked to the stage of economic devel- opment of a country. This is
because access to safe drinking water, provision of neat and clean
places for food preparation, education and awareness about the need for
hygiene in every aspect of our lives, comes only as countries develop.
Of course, pollutants and contaminants also grow over time, but
knowledge and awareness being created, is half the battle won.
The Hygiene Concept
Food hygiene can be defined as, “the set of basic
principles employed by food operators at all stages of food handling to
ensure that food is safe for humans to consume and is of good keeping
quality”.
Good food hygiene whichhygiene, which makes food safe
to consume, involves re- moval of dirt, germs and contaminants at every
stage of food handling, including pro- duction, storage, preparation
and presen- tation. The principle idea being to prevent food poisoning
and diseases in the digestive tract, ensuring that food does not get
spoilt or turn rancid, personal hygiene maintained by food handlers and
food related places kept clean and pest free.
Governments play the most important role in
establishing rules and regulations, pass laws and acts to be followed by
food busi- nesses, and ensure they are implemented and followed
stringently, keeping public health in mind. They have to set up systems
and standards to ensure that the right pro- cesses are followed to
promote food hygiene, and then issue ratings, which give an inkling to
consumers whether the food on offer is safe to eat. The entire food
chain from the farm to the table, is involved in this. The onus for
providing access to providing clean water, proper sanitation and other
basic facilities also lies with governments.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set clear
guidelines for proper food handling and its preparation to ensure that
it is done with utmost cleanliness, safe raw ingredi- ents are used, the
contact between raw and cooked food is avoided, that food is cooked
thoroughly to kill all germs, and the pre- pared food is stored at the
right temperature to avoid its spoilage.
This is actually a tall order, since it involves
extensive training of food handlers in basic food safety, knowing the
best practices, and being acutely aware of the risks involved due to
even a slight negligence on their part. It is also part of the social
responsibility of busi- nesses to protect people from getting sick,
promote better health through provision of quality and safe food
products, and in the process, protect their business and their
reputation.
Thus, a few habits have to become a way of life for every food handler:
- Frequent washing of hands, ideally with warm water and soap, especially after using the toilet, each time they enter the kitchen, change tasks or return after an interruption in a food related activity.
- Any illness like influenza, diarrhea, cold or throat ache, skin eruptions etc. means staying away from food handling, since it leads to the passing on of germs and infection.
- Ensuring cleanliness of the food preparation area, including surfaces and equipment, disinfecting the place, and regularly getting pest control treatment done to keep the place bug and rodent free.
- Utensils, crockery and cutlery must be washed and cleaned with good detergent and hot water, and not wiped, but air dried.
- Cooked foods and perishable items must be stored at appropriate temperatures, since keeping them at room temperature means risking their getting spoiled. All food has to be kept covered and free from dust and flies.
- Uncooked foods, especially meats must to be kept away from cooked items with no chance of them touching prepared foods so as to avoid the transfer of pathogens.
- Personal hygiene of food handlers is imperative. Besides keeping hands clean, nails must be clipped short since germs get stuck in long nails and get passed on into the food. Coughing and sneezing is not permissible, hair must be tied, and covered with a cap, while also not touch- ing or scratching any part of their bodies. Cuts/wounds must be dressed and cov- ered. Besides wearing clean, protective clothing disposable gloves must be worn before touching food. Smoking has to be avoided while handling food.
- The premises where cooking and pro- cessing of food has to be undertaken must necessarily be equipped with prop- er light and ventilation, have appropriate temperature control, keep the place in good repair and absolutely clean, ade- quate sanitation and clean toilets and ensure supply of potable water.
Food Hygiene in Yangon
It is a well known fact that food hygiene in Yangon
is rather low, something that even the government admits, while
attempting to improve existing standards. Starting from the basics like
providing clean drinking wa- ter, and adequate water supply to
facilitate washing and cleaning, the concept of hy- giene in the food
industry is abysmally low. Hygiene issues persist at every level, from
raw ingredients, to cooked foods both do- mestically and commercially.
Methods of cleaning, storage, preparation and serving, are all far
behind international safety stan- dards in the realm of human
consumption. The downtown area is lined with small eat- eries, and most
of them do not even appear clean, even though they seem to be doing
brisk business. Hot food, freshly prepared, is safe, and since turnover
is high, the level of freshness ensures its safety for consump- tion.
Avoiding prepared food, lying in the open, often uncovered, is
recommended, just as much as uncooked foods.
While many residents may perceive this to be a
snobbish perspective, this is reality and stomach disorders are so very
common. Locals have been habituated long enough to develop immunity
against harmful food bacteria. Bacteria are commonly found in roadside
food and transfer easily and quick- ly. Hawkers do not have access to
sufficient water to clean utensils and dishes, there is not even enough
shelf space to place large pans, which are left on the pavement, ex-
posed not just to the elements but numer- ous living beings as well.
Unclean hands, recycling disposable plates and spoons, providing a
single tumbler for hundreds to drink from, are some of the unhygienic
practices witnessed by all of us.
Over three quarters of the cooked food sold in Yangon
is from street stalls and mobile vans, which stop and set up shop
anywhere and everywhere. Offering an amazing vari- ety of local
delicacies, the aroma is tempt- ingly appetizing. Thus one can select
the various types of satay, mo hin gar and other soups, salads, fish,
vegetables and curries, besides rice and noodles. The dishes are
amazingly cheap and a sumptuous meal can be had for as little as 2000
kyats. People frequent these stalls since it is time saving, cheap and
tasteful. While many eat on the same tables and chairs provided, an
equal number carry packed food home, often in polythene bags unfit for
hot foods. The hy- giene issue obviously takes a back seat, and eyes are
closed to dishes being just dipped into tubs of dirty water twice over
and re- used. Bare hands being used for serving, dirty food counters,
the same hands being used for handling both money and food, are some of
the dangerous habits noticed about food handlers. Flies and insects buzz
disturbingly close to the stored food, dogs and cats are seen close to
the large pots of- ten left on the floor. The results came out in the
testing of food samples from numerous food stalls. It was found 35% of
the food samples of popular preparations like fried rice, sausages and
ice cream, contained the dangerous food bacteria like Bacillus cereusv
or Staphylococcus aureas, both causing food poisoning. These bacteria
get transferred into food due to lack of personal hygiene of food
handlers.
The common man and the tourist remain skeptical about
how safe the food is, but due to lack of cleaner options at similar
price lev- els, remain helpless and optimistically con- tinue buying and
eating, hoping that their systems are immune to the bacteria.
Food hygiene being an issue of national concern is
conceded even by officials of the Myanmar Restaurants Association (MRA),
and the organization has taken it upon itself to educate street vendors
about the impor- tance and the process of preparing hygienic food.
Taking on one vendor at a time, the MRA is educating them about
cleanliness and how to store food, personal hygiene of vendors, the use
of proper crockery and keeping food covered and contamination free. It
is also persuading the government to ensure adequate water supply for
proper washing of equipment. Multinationals like Unilever Food Solutions
have been invest- ing both money and effort since 2010, to train staff
in Myanmar’s formal hospitality sector about the need and significance
of food hygiene.
The flip side of eating unhygienic foods Illness and
digestive disorders are a natural corollary to the consumption of
unsafe, un- hygienic foods. The extent of contamination 2. determines
the symptoms that appear, like diarrhea, throwing up, cramps or nausea,
3. besides various allergies. Dangerous bacte-ria like E.Coli and Salmonella spread due to 4. poor food handling practices and can cause 5. lasting damage to the victims.
When food is not hygienic, the illness threat looms
large, and while most people equip themselves with emergency medicines,
it becomes important to be familiar with medical facilities available.
Medical insurance
has yet to develop in Myanmar, and most ofus come use
international insurance com- panies to provide cover, with the so
essential, emergency evacuation option. And sure enough, neighboring
countries equipped with the latest healthcare facilities and
state-of-the-art hospitals, promote medical tourism in Myanmar to
benefit from the missing facilities here, knowing that hospitals and
health care has yet to come up to international standards.
High Risk Foods in Yangon
- Street food
- Uncooked vegetables
- Unpeeled and unwashed fruits
- Raw, cold meats
- Unpasteurized dairy products
- Cold sauces, like salad dressings,
- mayonnaise, chutneys
- Ice in drinks
- Tap water
- Fruit juice from open stalls
- Uncovered foods with flies and in-
- sects visible around them.
A Few Don’ts
The biggest problem of eating carelessly es- pecially
when in doubt about food hygiene, is the risk of being inflicted with
amoebic dysentery. Food poisoning is common, and with lack of quality
healthcare facilities, there is a bigger risk involved. It is better to
be safe, than sorry.
- Do not drink just any water, ask for bottled water only.
- Do not have any fruit juice extracted in open juicers.
- Do not raw vegetables or unpeeled fruits.
- Do not eat street food.
- Do not eat in small, unclean tea shops and food centers.
- A Few Safe Eateries in Yangon
The best places to eat in Yangon are largely upscale,
including all the restaurants in star rated hotels. A few worth
mentioning in- clude the following:
Myanmar Cuisine – Padonmar Restaurant, Monsoon, Green Elephant.
Thai Cuisine – Mai Thai, Nacha, Sabai Chinese – White Rice, My Garden, Oriental House
Italian – Sharky’s, La Opera, Parami Pizza, Pepperoni, Napoli
Indian – Corriander Leaf, Titu’s Banana Leaf, A.V.’s
Multicuisine and tea salons – Acacia Tea Salon, Fuji Coffee House, Union Bar & Grill, 50th Street Grill & Bar.
Hygenic food-a precursor to tourism devel- opment
The world today, is virtually without bor- ders, and
travel has become a favorite pas- time especially for a generation that
believes in working hard and partying hard. Chang- ing mindsets, the
spirit of adventure and a nearly hassle free experience of exploring new
countries and cultures, has made tour- ism a big industry, and for many
countries, the largest revenue earner. Developing countries exude an
old world charm that fas- cinates and beckons those willing to spend on
travelling. Myanmar, naturally then, stands to benefit immensely from
this, and its earnings out of this industry might well fund the
infrastructure development des- perately needed in the country. But it
has to first provide for the very basic needs of tour- ists, providing
them quality accommodation and safe, hygienically prepared food.
Ref;http://www.myanmarinsider.com/is-food-in-yangon-safe-and-hygenic/
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