Potatoes from Cha-Am market smell of human excrement

[Spitfire]

The other thing that I have sometimes considered, and perhaps worth a swift mention, is I occasionally wonder about to what extent growth hormones are used here and those sort of things you can't tell from looking at it, maybe not even from the taste. Sometimes I have visions of the unregulated farmer liberally plumping-up his livestock with such things to speed things up. Again, the Thai Health Ministry seems to be reactive as opposed to proactive, rather like the police, and hardly inspires confidence.

As another poster mentioned, you just don't know what you are eating these days as there is so much demand for foodstuffs at a certain pricing level.

Personally, I'm happy to chuck in the extra baht to by the decent quality produce these days as my confidence has slowly dwindled on this front over time.

However, each to their own though.

[dtaai-maai]

Yep, retail meat standards here are bleedin' offal...

[deepee]

Yep, retail meat standards here are bleedin' offal...

Hey dtaai-mai isn't that being a bit too disexcrementatory of the situation ????

[Nereus]

It may well be that what you can smell is not fecal matter, but some chemical that has been used to help preserve the potato. There are several chemicals used to prevent "sprouting" in stored potato`s.

The most common chemical is "Chlorpropham", a couple of others such as
"Di-isopropylnaphthalene", (1,4-Dimethylnaphthalene). Clove Oil is also used. All of the above are applied after harvest, as opposed to treatment of the growing plant. I have no idea how any of these chemicals smell, but considering where we are, it could be some other "home grown" treatment, or a mixture of several.

Anybody that has been to Indonesia will know how clove cigarettes smell, so it could well be that there is some connection with that.

[Takiap]

I don't think Thailand has any organic poultry farms, so no, you can't be sure what the chickens are fed. The use of growth hormones is however basically non-existent nowadays. Farmers realized many moons ago that broiler chickens get big just as quickly without any growth hormones, so it was basically an unnecessary expense. Give the Thais love of money, I can't see the farmers spending any money on something which in fact doesn't make any difference at all.


Chickens are however given antibiotics, not only here in Thailand, but also back in the west. Unless you eat only organically farmed chicken, it's something you just have to live with. I would imagine the same concerns apply to the pork industry, so really, your best bet seems to be beef, given that the cows all seem to be raised organically here.

[Terry]

For those of you who may be interested in what happens after you flush the toilet - check out the following to see how London had to deal with it over the years.............

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/ser ... ewage.html

Fundamentally the spreading of humane manure (and other types for that matter) onto crop fields is as old as time itself.

[Name Taken]

Personally I don't buy stuff from most Thai local markets as I just don't trust them, maybe most are OK, but they are no regulations on anything, it's just pay the stall rent sell what you've got, no-one checking any quality on anything, including meat (what type of).

Secondly, the reason I like buying food and other things from decent malls etc is because everyone pays the same and they are better with the quality angle, even if you have pay a bit more. Something I keep telling the Mrs but as you all know, old habits die hard and telling a Thai woman to be careful what she buys at an open-air food market is the same as telling a piss-head not to buy curry.

Even though the local markets are a seductive part of the life/culture here, there are no guarantees on what you are buying. Has it been grown properly? Have the used chemicals to grow it to it's present state because there are too many bugs or the soil is deficient? Many questions to contemplate.

How do you know the the so-called pork sausages on sale are really that and not dog/horse/goodness knows what? No-one is checking man.

I don't buy food from Thai local markets either and i would not be surprised if some of those so-called pork sausages really are dog/horse meat.
Disgusting.

[thebears]

It may well be that what you can smell is not fecal matter, but some chemical that has been used to help preserve the potato.

It could be, yes. Anyway, last night's spuds tasted fine once cooked, but the smell beforehand is really quite astonishing.

Sadly, I've tried the spuds from Villa Market, and they're very clean, but very low quality. They are like soft white rubber and I doubt that they have much nutritional value. And very expensive too.

I think I'll need to try another stall-holder on the market and see if they're any better. Thanks to all, and glad the subject has caused a few giggles anyway.

[PeteC]

Ongoing studies in the West show that massive amounts of antibiotics are discharged by humans into the sewer systems of the world, and apparently are still present after all treatment processes are completed. These waste solids and liquids are then used on crops, and in some cases the water is actually used again for human consumption and other food preparation processes. I think it's safe to say that each of us is getting a small dose of antibiotics daily that we're not aware of, and thus part of the reason for the ever increasing strains of bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. Pete

[margaretcarnes]

It may well be that what you can smell is not fecal matter, but some chemical that has been used to help preserve the potato.

It could be, yes. Anyway, last night's spuds tasted fine once cooked, but the smell beforehand is really quite astonishing.

Sadly, I've tried the spuds from Villa Market, and they're very clean, but very low quality. They are like soft white rubber and I doubt that they have much nutritional value. And very expensive too.

I think I'll need to try another stall-holder on the market and see if they're any better. Thanks to all, and glad the subject has caused a few giggles anyway.

The spuds from Villa could have been sitting on the shelves for much longer than the ones from the market. As with any supermarket these days there is no guarantee of freshness. Eggs are a prime example. But for some reason as a race we are conditioned to believe that what we buy in a nice clean shop has to be much better than what we buy in a mucky smelly market. We pay more for it don't we? Therefore it must be good.
There is no logical reason for that. And there is no logical reason for the foods on sale in supermarkets v wet markets to be from a different source either. Yes - just try using a different stall. Don't buy more than you need. Don't wash spuds before storing them - they will just rot more quickly. Or if you must store them in the fridge for a while peel them first and keep them in a bowl of water.

[Takiap]

Store bought food is rarely as fresh as food bought in the markets. As you say, eggs are a perfect example, with the average supermarket egg being about three weeks old. In Thailand I would imagine they're even older given that most Thais buy from the markets.

As far as health standards are concerned, just recently the USDA found that 99% of the chicken on supermarket shelves is contaminated with Ecoli, although not the deadly strain. Of course this would apply to chicken sold in the markets as well since the contamination takes place in the slaughter houses.

As I've said before, those picture perfect fruits and veggies you get in places like Villa Market are picture perfect for a reason. Grown naturally, and without poisonous chemicals, no fruit and veg looks so artificial. I for one would rather eat food that's been fertilized with waste than eat food which has been fertilized with a chemical cocktail.

Fortunately, unless disaster strikes, we'll soon be living off our own homegrown veggies.

[charlesh]

Boy that was a shitty potato salad! Sure takes n a new meaning. Stayed with some farmers in Malaysia several years back and they were using both no 1's and No 2's (retrieved fermenting from large pots) to fertilise their Chinese vegies. As most people would agree Malaysia is a leap above LOS re general agriculture. Lucky you don't get nasty Hep A with some of the foods presented. For God's sake don't eat uncooked food/vegies or peeled fruit in LOS has been my impromata.
The chemical ripening agents mentioned above do not to my knowledge have a shitty smell with the napthalene derivative having almost a moth balls smell!
Rest assured the "Clean food Healthy food" signs mean-------- God know's what!!!

[Takiap]

Unless you eat home cooked food 100% of the time, you're eating the same as everyone else in the country is eating. Trust me, the restaurants don't buy their groceries from market villa, and they don't buy imported pork and chicken. There is only one establishment in the area that, as far as I know, grows most of the produce they use, and that's the Chiva Som.

So, next time you sit down for a bowl of noodles, remember that the pork comes from one of the markets, and if you go to some fancy restaurant in town, the food you're served also comes from one of the markets.

So why bother trying to fight a battle you can't possibly win as long as you live in this country? And if you're still terrified of germs and bacteria on the fruit and veg, simply soak/rinse it in a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide, bottles of which are available at most pharmacies. I personally wouldn't bother though. Instead, I've given my body a chance to build up some resistance. Either my approach has worked, or else the food is not as dirty as we may think because I never get ill from it.


I think we're witnessing a bit of Bacteriophobia or perhaps mysophobia. Maybe even a bit of both.