1. You are still alive and kicking and so are million and millions of Pinoys.
Absence of death doesn't prove safety. Would someone have to die, before you changed your views?
Likewise, the fact that the Philippines' population hasn't been eradicated by food poisoning proves nothing. However, the rates of gastro-intestinal illness here (and consequent deaths) is very high.
Are you suffering from any debilitating disease from eating "unhealthy" Pinoy's food.
Me... no... I don't eat a typical Pinoy diet, despite living here. Salad, fruit and wholewheat rice forms a major part of my diet, despite the scarcity of those ingredients in Manila. I don't eat much junk food.
However, in general, Philippines has;
Highest rates of heart disease in Asia.
Highest obesity rates in Asia.
2. "Dirty" water ice-cream is still a ice-cream albeit unhygenic BUT gelato is definitely NOT. I never ever came across any "dirty" water ice-cream in Philippines over last 18 yrs. Am I lucky or I know where to buy good ice-cream?
Perhaps you don't know the difference?
Philippines news channel ABS-CBN did an article recently on the street food. They found harmful bacteria (E.coli and Salmonela) in the
majority of samples taken. Their advice was not to eat! ... and that was from the local health experts. Human gut can adapt, within boundaries, to contaminated foodstuffs - what a local eats regularly can still be devastating for a non-acclimatised visitor.
Locals eat this stuff because it's cheap - and Philippines has a very high percentage of poverty. Sadly, those living in poverty also cannot afford modern medical treatment, meaning that illness rates, parasitical infections etc aren't reliably recorded.
3. Food poisoning caused by E. Coli is quite common in HK. Even our beaches are closed because of that. Tell me anywhere that E. Coli does not exist?
BTW, Salmonella is more potent.
So, by your logic, just because Hong Kong is a disease ridden, contaminated stink-hole... it makes it acceptable to have contaminated food elsewhere?
E.Coli and Salmonella
do exist virtually everywhere - but effective food handling and preparation means that these bacteria do not survive through the cooking process and get ingested.
Streetfood in the Philippines doesn't have effective food handling and preparation - there's a major problem with cross-contamination, meaning that these bacterias survive and get ingested.
Did you ever eat a street-food BBQ here? Watch how they use the same 'brush' to marinade the raw meat... then put more marinade onto the cooked product before handing it to you. That's cross-contamination... the marinade brush goes from raw meat to cooked meat... as does the bacteria.
