Mexican food Safety

Our good is cruising to Mexico for the first time. Has anyone gotten sick? Everyone says not to eat the food due to the water and getting sick, but many of the excursions include food? Should I be concerned?

Our good is cruising to Mexico for the first time. Has anyone gotten sick? Everyone says not to eat the food due to the water and getting sick, but many of the excursions include food? Should I be concerned?

Concerned? IMHO on a cruise ship sponsored excursion-No. Cautious - Yes.

We've made a lot of stops and eaten lots of food in Mexico with only one single problem. And I'm pretty sure that it was the guacamole from a restaurant owned by American ex-pats.:rolleyes:

Some cautions:

• Never buy from a street cart.
  
• If you order water in a restaurant ask them to leave the cap on. Open it yourself.
  
• Avoid fresh fruits. They can be contaminated to begin with or be washed in less-than-perfect water.
  
• Use common sense when selecting a restaurant on your own. Most in the "touristy" areas are going to be safe.
  
• Observe good personal hygiene. The food you purchase may be just fine. But if your hands have been in contact with contaminated surfaces (the railings on your transportation for instance) you may be making yourself ill. Wash hands often and use sanitizer.
  

Charlie

Some of the best traditional food you will eat. Never any problems. We normally stick with bottled waters and soda as ice is not a factor. There will be those who had bad experiences and those who have not. Same goes for the food on the ship. I would not let traveling aborad and the worry about food cause any stress. We've eaten foods from street carts and some shady locals only type resturants without problems. If you have a concern you can aways bring imodium or Kaopectate .

aways bring imodium or Kaopectate .

Charlie

Probably one of the most enlightening things I've learned is that even the Mexicans don't drink the water here. Bottled water here is CHEAP. We pay less than $2.50 US for a 20L garrafon of water to be delivered to our home every couple of days. Even street stands use purified water/ice. I know some municipalities have regulations requiring them to use purified water. When in doubt, just ask for agua purificado.

The biggest problem here is food handling. Improper handwashing being a big offender. I'd stay away from produce here if you're traveling. Produce isn't prewashed before hitting the market like it does when you're in the states and so it should be soaked in a special solution first. Also, anything with eggs needs to be completely cooked.

Most cases of traveler's tummy comes from just the pure fact that you have no immunities to the local bugs. I get it both when I readjust to the states and when I come to Mexico. You can't destroy all the bacteria in all your food, your body just adapts to it. If you want to avoid traveler's tummy, then the best way is to not eat and sanitize very frequently. But you'd be missing a wonderful experience, so just eat smart.

Bottled beer, bottled water (agua pura or agua purificado), and cooked food. With chips and salsa or guacamole, I wash it down with shots of tequilla. Its worked so far on 10 or so trips.

Do take Imodium and Pepto Bismol. And stay fortified with yogurt for some good probiotics.

It's not recommended to take Immodium, even if you get travelers tummy. By stopping the natural "flow" of things, you trap the bacteria in your system where it can continue to multiply and enter the bloodstream so you don't feel better.

It's not recommended to take Immodium, even if you get travelers tummy. By stopping the natural "flow" of things, you trap the bacteria in your system where it can continue to multiply and enter the bloodstream so you don't feel better.

True. Also, if you are very sick you are going to need antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Peptobismol and kaopectate only relieve an upset stomach.....they don't deal with a bacterial infection and will be of little comfort.

I've never been to Mexico but I spent some time in India which is notorious for getting people sick.

I followed some really simple rules:

1. As someone said above, don't eat from a street cart.

2. Also mentioned above, its better not to eat fruit. That being said, I believe that rule applies to fruit that you don't peel. If its an orange, banana, etc., something you will remove the outer layer from you should be ok. Though I suppose its not a guarantee.

3. Don't eat anything raw (except for said fruit with peels). Make sure every bit of food you eat has been cooked.

4. Pay attention. In India, a friend of mine followed these rules and got very sick. We realized later that she had eaten a cooked meal that had been served in a dish made from tree leaves. She was the only one of our group to eat that and she was the only one to get sick. The dish contaminated the food.

5. Don't drink anything but bottled water unless you know where its coming from.

By following these rules I spent nearly a month in India and didn't get sick once. The same rules should apply in Mexico and I plan to follow them myself when I visit in January.

Good luck and have a great time!

It's not recommended to take Immodium, even if you get travelers tummy. By stopping the natural "flow" of things, you trap the bacteria in your system where it can continue to multiply and enter the bloodstream so you don't feel better.

If I'm in the middle, beginning, or even towards the end of a cruise and I get the green apple - or green gringo - quick step from something I've eaten or embibed at a port ----- I will be swallowing some Immodium AD tablets until my shiop sails back into port.

I'll deal with the bacteria in my system when I'm back home.

But thank you for the warning.

Dianne

We have been to Mexico many times and have never had a problem with local food and drink. We do usually stick to bottled water and soda, though (unadvisedly) we once had an iced barley & water drink similar to horchata, from the old mercado in Mazatlan only realizing it might not have been prudent when we were already halfway through - DUH. Even then we did not get sick, thankfully! I do not recall ever eating from a street cart either. Enjoy! Trying out new food is, IMHO, one of the wonderful experiences of any foreign country.

What about the frozen drinks at the beach? has anyone had problem from the ice?

Be careful of iced drinks. As the ice melts, the water mixes in with your drink. It should be pointed out however that no known pathogen can survive in an environment containing alcohol.

Remember the Immodium and the Pepto just in case!

Think about this. You are visiting an area that depends on tourism for their livelihood. They will go out of their way to ensure that you don't get sick because they can't afford the negative publicity.

Water is purified and the ice in drinks is made from the purified water. Some of the reports of sickness can be attributed to over consumption of alcohol and not the food or water.

We have visited Mexico on both land and cruise vacations and have not experienced any problems. We do take necessary medication with us, just in case. You have to use the same common sense you would anywhere you visit.

As a retired military guy, I was fortunate visit quite a few foreign locations and partake of the varied cuisine; Korea, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia and Mississippi:) to name a few.

The biggest factor as mentioned earlier is the bacteria inherent to any region of the world. You cannot completely get rid of the bacteria, but proper cooking and handling can greatly reduce them. The longer you are exposed to the bacteria, the better you can tolerate foods from the region and the more "adventurous" you can get. I've had a few of those "are you sure that's chicken?" items from street vendors. Hey it's amazing what looks appetizing after imbibing.

Some forms of cooking will always be safer than others. Grilled items have, in my experience, been excellent. For street vendors, ask them to return it to the grill to heat it up. I actually preferred the street vendors, because I could inspect and observe what they were doing and watch them prepare my order. I would often tell them to cook it to my preference(longer for more heat) or not add whatever looked suspicious. Like watching the subway guy make your sandwich. I always avoided sauces and salsas since they are not always heated to a proper temperature, but soups were almost always safe because of the sustained high temperature used preparing it. Seafood was always suspect, since it is cooked for shorter periods of time at lower temperature than critters with fur, hair or feathers. If I got an item I thought was suspicious the options were to leave it, or take it to the room and nuke the heck out of it in a microwave. Well I guess a third option was to chase it with Tequila.

I would recommend to anyone to partake in the local offerings of any country, just make wise choices of items cooked for extended times or at high temperature. Or stay there long enough that your body can handle the foreign invaders.

If I'm in the middle, beginning, or even towards the end of a cruise and I get the green apple - or green gringo - quick step from something I've eaten or embibed at a port ----- I will be swallowing some Immodium AD tablets until my shiop sails back into port.

 

I'll deal with the bacteria in my system when I'm back home.

 

But thank you for the warning.

 

Dianne

To each his own. I'd rather be sick for a day or two than end up in the hospital with a bacterial infection in my blood.

I just got back to the states two weeks ago and, as predicted, I got sick as soon as I ate the food here. Two days later I was right as rain again. Just a part of life I guess.