Food Safety Africa/South America/Asia

[MickeyMouse718]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with individuals (either themselves or others in the group) getting sick from either the food or water on any of the Africa, South America, or Asia trips? I would hope that would hope ABD has experience in these places and is able to provide recommendation to prevent issues.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do your own research on your specific destination. You cannot just lump entire continents together for goodness sakes! Find out if the water is drinkable or just for washing, and if you should avoid certain things (dairy, street food, etc). You don’t need ABD to hold your hand in the age of Google and in fact you shouldn’t rely on them anyway. You’ll be fine with them for sure, “mass poisoning” ain’t a headline they want, but always best to know the ins and outs of an area for when you are on your own.

 

[aggiedog]

As someone who has puked, and worse, from a GI bug on several continents, but who continues to travel and eat local foods, this is a valid question.

My non-ABD experience is this: If you can't drink the water, they will make sure you know and hotels (and the tour company) will provide safe bottled water. If the local foods are not safe, they will let you know, and make sure they take you only to places that follow best practices for preparing it. No tour company wants a bus full of sick people. That's not only a PR disaster, but no fun to deal with on the ground either.

And if you have a sensitive GI track, like mine seems to be, I take a peptobismol pill at every meal. Doing some research in the past, that is one of the CDC recommendations to avoid traveler's diarrhea. Since starting that, I've not gotten sick.

We've done street food tours all over SE Asia and Mexico, eating from stalls that I'd never have thought to go in, but the guides were all confident in those kitchens. The same would be for any hotel or restaurant a tour like ABD would take you to.

A couple of our SE guides talked about ice cubes, and how circular ice with holes in it was safe and square ice was not (due to how it's made.) Seemed to be legit since I did not get sick once.

The one place that I've read about that seems to get people regardless of precautions is Egypt.

 

[Bobo912]

At least a quarter or more of the group of 44 on our Peru trip got sick after the white water rafting activity. Fortunately, we were not in the middle of the groups of rafts that were splashing each other with river water, and no one in our raft got sick. But there were a lot of people with some gastrointestinal distress who missed the activities the next day and were still feeling poorly for several days after. On the trips where the drinking water was potentially risky, the guides advised us to only drink bottled water and suggested we use bottled water when brushing teeth. I think I forgot at least once and brushed with tap water, but I didn't get sick.

 

[Poohlie]

For all the China internal flights, we were given boxed meals to bring on. One of the teens ate the airline food and was sick the next day. We knew when they give you a box lunch for the flight you avoid the airline food. There was ample bottled water available throughout the trip.

For South Africa, no one got sick until one of the guests drank tap water at the spa - maybe a coincidence but who knows. We asked for bottled water after our spa treatment and were fine. We were offered bottled water at all restaurants.

Also, we were there in August during the Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not really an issue for South Africa at the time but we were headed to Victoria Falls following the last day of the trip so it was a concern for us. The guides got regular updates from corporate on the situation. I feel like they are all over health safety issues in general.

 

[chirona]

Hi my experience is in china there are problems with the water and a few times with the food. Make sure you bring medicine just in case.

 

[Grifdog22]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with individuals (either themselves or others in the group) getting sick from either the food or water on any of the Africa, South America, or Asia trips? I would hope that would hope ABD has experience in these places and is able to provide recommendation to prevent issues.

We went on the ABD South Africa trip as well as Egypt. No one in our groups had any issues with food or water. ABD screens locales that feed us and maintains pretty darn high standards, even for street food. We generally follow their advice for OYO times as to "safe" restaurants. The food on both South Africa and Egypt was off the charts terrific. You're paying a premium for a premium experience. Both places are thoroughly enjoyable - both downright stunning.

If you are booking OYO, well, you are OYO.

 

[abdgeek]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with individuals (either themselves or others in the group) getting sick from either the food or water on any of the Africa, South America, or Asia trips? I would hope that would hope ABD has experience in these places and is able to provide recommendation to prevent issues.

IMO, eating and drinking in the countries you mentioned is similar to the precautions you have to take when visiting Mexico. Don’t drink the water, use ice, or eat foods that have not been cooked. You also have to be careful of things that are rinsed in the water that you’re not supposed to drink. Boil it, peel it, or don’t eat it. I’ve also done the ABD China and Egypt trips and didn’t have any issues or get sick on the trip from the food. For both trips, I came in a couple of days early and did some sightseeing, but knew not to drink the water. Several of the private tours I took stopped at select places for me to get food or recommended certain things. I also booked dinner reservations at restaurants in each country and did a food tour in Egypt. I didn’t get sick from anything I ate in either country. I’m doing the ABD Amazon Escape & Galapagos trip in a couple of days and have already researched drinking/eating in Ecuador. Again, the same things apply—don’t drink the water and boil it, peel it, or don’t eat it. In case I need it, I always travel with imodium.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

The one place that I've read about that seems to get people regardless of precautions is Egypt.

If anyone got sick on our Egypt tour (July 2024), I didn't know about it.

 

[Simba's Mom]

DH used to travel internationally a lot, and he said that one big mistake he'd see people make was that when they were in a country where it wasn't advisable to drink the water, people wouldn't-but they'd order a cold drink with ice in it. Then they'd wonder why they got sick. Ice is just solid water, so if you shouldn't drink the water, don't have a cold drink with ice.

 

[pjacobi]

I got sick in Egypt because I got lazy and drank the orange juice from the hotel buffet. A pealed orange or fresh squeezed would have been OK to eat or drink. However, the orange juice from the buffet was from concentrate and mixed with the local water. Luckily, this happened on my last day of my trip.


-Paul

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We've done ABD China and Japan. With the exception of being extra careful with the water in China, we had zero issues with food or drink. Actually had some amazing food experiences in both countries. I know on the Japan trip one person on the tour got sick midway through, but not clear that could be blamed on water or food.

 

[AquaDame]

I got sick in Egypt because I got lazy and drank the orange juice from the hotel buffet. A pealed orange or fresh squeezed would have been OK to eat or drink. However, the orange juice from the buffet was from concentrate and mixed with the local water. Luckily, this happened on my last day of my trip.


-Paul

I'm shocked the hotel didn't know better.

 

[bookbabe626]

We had Agra followed by Cairo on the AbD jet tour, and even with the best precautions and only a day or two at each stop, many of us were sick in Paris, the next stop. And we were at very good hotels, using only bottled water, etc. Didn’t get sick after visiting China, though, I think because we only ate at the parks and Disney hotels those days. I think if I was ever to go back to India or Egypt I would skip any food that might have been prepared with or even washed in local water, and live on potato chips and granola bars for a few days. It was very ugh.