Foods To Avoid in the Philippines. Food not to eat. Drinks to avoid in the Philippines, water.

Foods to avoid in the Philippines. Food not to eat.

You can get typhoid by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water in the Philippines.

There are many sidewalk vendors selling many types of Filipino food.  Have been cautioned to never eat street vendor foods. The only sidewalk vendor foods I have eaten are roasted peanuts and boiled corn cob on a stick. No problems with either. Filipino corn is very large, bright yellow and totally delicious. Reminds me of upstate New York corn. And, I do not drink any tap water (I have moved the information about drinking tap water to this new link).

It was suggested that I take "Imodium" to settle my stomach if I ever got a touch of food poisoning. I used it on several occasions and it always worked in a matter of an hour or two. It is available at a drugstore near you. Use the store locators to find a nearby Mercury Drug store, Watson's drug store, or a Generics Pharmacy (scroll down the Generics page). Most other drug stores in the Philippines probably have Imodium also.

I just asked my wife if she could add to this article and she said, "Warn foreigners not to eat foods prepared at street side "canteens" because they do not keep their foods heated and there are usually flies all over the utensils in the kitchens. Don't buy breads and other items at local bakeries because they very possibly do not keep the kitchen counters and pans and utensils clean." It is not unusual to see flies inside the display counters at local bakeries, donut shops and other street side vendors.

"Even today, the problem of food safety in the Philippines is largely blamed on a lack of enforcement. Tap water is often undrinkable, and food sold by street vendors is still classified as unsafe by the US Center for Disease Control." From an article dated July 11, 2015 at csmonitor.com about the incident where 1,300 school children were sickened eating a Filipino candy.

Canteens do sell packaged products like Filipino and U.S. brand name potato chips, cookies, sodas and much more. I have never gotten sick eating these items. Prices are much lower in the canteens than in convenience stores like 7-11 and Mini Stop.

If you are eating at a Filipino home I advise precaution. Often foods are left out for hours un-refrigerated. Apparently Filipinos are immune to some bacteria. I have gotten sick after eating some.
Don't be afraid to ask about the food. Best if it is food that is prepared fresh for you. Tell them you have a touchy stomach and need to be very careful about what you eat. I think they will understand.
Most likely they will have already thought about it.

I even took the precaution not to eat raw vegetables. I ate only cleaned and cooked vegetables.
In restaurants I have been able to eat lettuce raw. However, once in a Tokyo Tokyo (at SM City Clark in Angeles City) and once in a Burger King (at Marquee Mall in Angeles City) I got a stomach ache after eating sandwiches with lettuce in them.

In Angeles City be sure to eat at this buffet restaurant. I like it and I think you will too.

There are many American restaurants in Angeles City, Cebu, Manila and in most larger cities in the Philippines.

If you will be staying for an extended period of time or if you just want to take some food or snacks back to your hotel you may want to visit
grocery stores which sell American and European foods.

Lechon Kawal fried pork (looks like roast pork)

In the Philippines its seems that almost everybody eats pork. I once bought hotdogs at a supermarket which were labeled "chicken hot dogs". Upon reading the ingredients list I found that they also contain "pork".
If you do not want to eat pork be sure to ask restaurants if this or that has pork in it.
See this page about the dangers of eating pork; including video and information about deadly trichinosis and other parasites. See worms being removed from a 3 year old's stomach.
Years ago I read a long article in the Saturday Evening Post. It explained how there is no guarantee that cooking will kill the trichinosis spores. And it also stated that trichinosis also masquerades as 50 different ailments. I just found this via Google Books, it tells about the masquerade. See what a brain surgeon found in a woman's brain. Short video about "The swine is unclean to you...".

If you have a weak stomach you may not want to watch these.

Warning for readers in the USA: The "Cracker Barrel" Restaurants corn bread muffins are obviously made with pork fat! When eating we tasted pork. Obviously the do not care that there are many people who eschew pork. Pork avoiding Christians, Muslims, Jews and vegetarians beware.

Food poisoning downs over 300 people who ate Pancit Palabok at a mall in the Philippines. Pork is an ingredient in Pancit Palabok

Another food to avoid in the Philippines is Cassava.
Food poisoning kills 27 at Philippine school. 
Excerpt from this link:
"it (cassava) is poisonous without proper preparation. Eaten raw, the human digestive system will convert part of it into cyanide."

Due to the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster it is a good idea to avoid foods imported from Japan. In fact I won't eat any fish from the Pacific ocean.

We try to avoid foods and baby formula from China.

Check out my article about Is it safe to drink tap water in the Philippines?

CDC article and advice about Travelers Diarrhea.

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This article will be expanded upon. Please check back for more information about foods to avoid or food not to eat in the Philippines. This page last updated June 18, 2016.