Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

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PeteC
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Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by PeteC »

Don't parents teach kids common sense these days? :banghead: I think everyone on here knows the dangers, but I post in case not.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/po ... -of-health

A Japanese restaurant in Bangkok has raw pork on the menu, but Thailand’s Department of Health is begging people not to eat it. After a photo of the restaurant’s menu went viral on social media, eating “pork sashimi” became Thailand’s latest trend. But eating raw pork can actually kill you, warns the department.

Raw pork contains harmful pathogens that are almost guaranteed to cause fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, skin rashes, diarrhea and parasitic infection, according to the Director-General of the Department of Health Dr. Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai.

In serious cases, the bacteria in raw pork can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, brain infection, pericarditis and severe sepsis which can lead to death, warns the doctor.

A photo of a “pork sashimi” menu at one Japanese restaurant in Bangkok went viral on Thai social media last week. The menu contains various dishes made from raw pork offal, such as raw pig tongue, heart, diaphragm, liver and stomach.

Suwannachai says pork needs to be cooked at 70 degrees Celsius or higher for over 5 minutes to become safe for human consumption. The doctor also recommends washing your hands before and after handling any kind of raw meat.

In 2015, Japan introduced a law banning restaurants from serving raw pork sashimi, because the dish was causing so many cases of food poisoning, hepatitis E and parasitic infections. In Japan, serving raw or undercooked pork is punishable by up to 2 years in prison and fines equivalent to over 550,000 baht.

No such law exists in Thailand, where larb made from raw pork has been a popular item on the menu for centuries. (That may explain a lot) However, eating raw pork in any form can cause lethal illness, or even death, so the Department of Health advises to steer clear of it at all costs.

SOURCE: NNT
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Re: Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by handdrummer »

Probably only a problem for Thais as I'm sure every farang knows this.
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Re: Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by HHTel »

But is it really raw?
Beef, pork, and poultry: bought from licensed butchers and processors, those were served raw, and cases are that the restaurant offer slightly cooked meat as sashimi to avoid high risk of food poisoning and parasite infection, by treating meat in boiling water (yubiki) or braised with gas torch (aburi). Served with ponzu citrus vinegar.
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Re: Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by hhinner »

No such law exists in Thailand, where larb made from raw pork has been a popular item on the menu for centuries.
Eaten plenty of larb, but never seen it made with raw pork though. Maybe not authentic. Maybe with raw pork is another Isaan specialty?
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Re: Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by HHTel »

Sashimi is offered in several places in Hua Hin. I doubt that the pork is truly raw and follows recommended guidelines by boiling for 5 mins etc.

This warning is a repeat of a warning given in March of 2019.
From January to March 23 this year, there were 44 cases of S suis infection and eight of them fatal.

The S suis bacterium is found mostly in pigs' internal organs, intestines and blood and its ingestion can make people sick.
That's not the same as raw meat.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ooked-pork
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Re: Pork sashimi can kill you, warns Thailand’s Department of Health

Post by handdrummer »

At any rate, it's not our problem, it's just something to comment on in these days of the doldrums.
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