I am an American going to China...hoping to eat as safe as possible?

Question

Okay....I confess. I'm a health enthusiast.

I am going to China for 16 days next month and have concerns about what I am going to eat while there. There has been much press about tainted food, pesticide poisoning and poisoned fish. Not to mention the CDC recommending not to eat any raw vegetables, to drink only bottled water and to get immunized. Of course I primarily live on salads, nuts, tofu and fish. I have read there is a growing interest in Organic in China but that the label is often not regulated or it is counterfeit. So how am I supposed to know what I'm eating?

Does anyone have any experience with traveling to China, maintaining a fairly health diet and minimizing getting sick or exposed to food of questionable quality?

I will be visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.

Answer 1

as far as being immunized I would stick to the Hep shots and that's it

one good rule is never eat anything that is not steaming hot, of course if you eat salads that will be a problem, so, I suggest that you stick to high end places, where you can trust that the food is prepared properly, one really good place in Shanghai is called Element Fresh, it is a great place to eat and eat well, there are also some vegetarian restaurants as well in the bigger cities

My daughter has a gluten allergy and we only buy international organic products b/c of what you have stated above

do not drink anything but bottled water, but even that is not 100% garanteed either

I think the best thing to do is just relax, don't be uptight, just have fun, China is a great place

Answer 2

16 days is nothing! I spent 5 weeks in Beijing and had a great time with food (even lost 3/4 of a stone!). Rice is your friend in China, a small amount fills you up and it's good stuff. In Beijing I recommend Beijing Hotpot - you get a small pan with oil/soup in and you cook your own meat/vegetables/noodles. It's great fun and you know what you're cooking is safe because you just cooked it! Tofu won't be a problem, you can get seeds all over the place, don't know about nuts. As for salads, I'd say no because you can only drink bottled water and salads will be washed in tap water most of the time. What immunizations will you need? As a Brit, I needed nothing for going to north China, though the more south you go, the more likely you'll be to need something. Stop worrying and have a great time!

Answer 3

Take it easy, it's not that serious, specially the cities that you are visiting. All the three cities are big, and Beijing and Shanghai are quite international and modern.

As long as you apply the common sense: wash the fruits before you eat; drink bottled water or boiled water ( which in China that's more common anyway); don't try to buy snacks from the vender's of the food market, stay with the main stream - in the real restaurant... Are you joining a tour? If so, most of the meals would be provided in carefully selected restaurant by the tour operator.

I'm originally from Beijing and been to Shanghai and Wuhan many times- since I have my own tour company: JIA's Dream Tours. And I have many American clients return from their China trip and have no problem at all with the food.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through our website: [e-mail]

Answer 4

You can have access to the unclean and unheathy food in China, but this is really your own choice. You can find clean and heathy food, so don't worry too much and enjoy your trip.

If you walk into some small local streets, you can find some restaurant or street food vender that can you have a meal for 20cents USD. The food from those places are really questionable. (I am a Chinese, but even I am scare to eat on those places.) Anyway, I guess visitor will never eat those food.

If you are really picky about the cleaness of the food, then stay with some upper class restaurant (4/5 stars hotel, restaurant in large mall.) It's not expensive in US standard. Most likely you still don't need spend more than 20USD per person.

raw vegetables - almost no one eat vegetable raw unless the vegetable for special for salad (mostly foreign import.)

Drink only bottled water - Water in China has some funny taste... It's safe, but don't taste good. Bottle water is so cheap, so I will only choose to drink bottle water too unless I am drink tea.

immunized - My son lived in China for half year. I found the child in China has a different set of immunize shots than US. I don't think this is necessary anyway. Most people who take them when they travel to China.

Answer 5

i dont know how to say.i do not have confidence on the food in China.i'm a chinese,i'm very careful about what i eat everyday.I once hear an old doctor who works in a hospital in china said that these years,more and more people get different kinds of cancers.In the past,when she was young there is not many cancers.but now more and more people die of cancer in China.She worry that there must be greatly related to what people eat daily.I worry about this too.the natural environment polluted so much.and the law regarded to food is so weak.can not protect the people at all.and in China not so many people care about what they eat here.they just work and work so as to survive.
people say that food in China taste good.but tasting good do not mean quality good.
but dont worry,you just stay 16days in China.no big problems.just enjoy when you are here.
when you are in China any problems you can send email.i will reply you.i live not very far from shanghai now.
[e-mail]

Answer 6

Dint confuse hazards of rare or medium doneness steaks with rare or medium doneness hamburger. In reality, the only surfaces that would be exposed to bacteria on a steak are the cut sides. The interior is "clean." In hamburger it is all ground up together, and there is no "clean inside" layer of meat. Hope that makes sense! Don't worry about what some arbitrary list of meat doneness says about you. Eat it how you like it. But I do agree that well done may be a bit more carcinogenic if cooked over wood or charcoal, and (as a medium-rare steak love), a waste of good meat.

Answer 7

I travel to all three of these cities. They all have nice restaurants. I only eat at nice places. You take a risk if you do not. The food is always good. I never use ice or drink plain water (tea or beer). I try to eat fruit that must be peeled and cooked items. There is plenty of tofu and fish and soup.

Answer 8

I've lived in China for over ten years and I've never had any problems. GNC stores sell powdered ginger tablets, and these tablets taken after meals are a sure fire way to keep the stomach warm and happy! I usually eat some raw garlic when eating meals.

Answer 9

When I was in Beijing over 3 days, I ate at McDonalds.

Besides food, I noticed that the air pollution was unbearable for me. Sometime, you will see it is cloudy, but actually it is heavy smog. The locals wear mouth cover to protect themselves from the pollutants. I suggest you do the same.

Have a nice trip.

Answer 10

The person above me: you are on drugs.

In China, just eat from big restaurants, or local fastfood chains. N.E.V.E.R eat from the small hawker stands on the streets. Buy your drinks from supermarkets or shops. if you HAVE to eat salad (since chinese people don't eat salads), get it from big supermarkets (e.g. walmarts or some bigger chinese supermarket chains, these they have regulations on the fresh foods, so you see "labels" on the foods, of what's going on), and you'll be alrite.

If you start talking about nutritional intake or genetic foods i'm afraid I can't help you.

+ My point is if you're in China and you only care about nutritional intakes and you don't go out to try the broad diversity of REAL chinese culinary cooking there. you're gonna miss out alot.....alot alot......