Chinese influencer’s food poisoning sparks Thai food hygiene row

Chinese netizens criticised Thai food as “unclean” after a Chinese influencer suffered food poisoning after eating at a night market in Thailand and issued a warning to his followers on Weibo.

The Chinese food blogger, Liu Yu Xin, also known as Jason, posted a video of himself enjoying food at a night market in Thailand on his Weibo account. Most of the food he tried was made of raw ingredients like marinated raw crabs, raw shrimps, raw squid in spicy dipping sauce, and jumping shrimp salad with little living shrimps.

Another video Jason shared showed him suffering from diarrhoea and food poisoning. He revealed to his followers that this was the first time marinated raw food caused this illness.

Jason warned his followers to be careful when eating this type of food in Thailand because the country’s hot weather makes dangerous bacteria grow faster. He added that the cost of treatment in a Thai hospital was also expensive as he paid nearly 20,000 baht.

Many Chinese netizens shared their experiences of suffering from food poisoning after eating in Thailand, and some shared their opinions that Thai food was not as clean as food in China. They commented…

“I visited Thailand more than ten times and did not dare to try this kind of food.”

“Honestly, Thai food is not as hygienic as food in China. Marinated raw food in Thailand is not recommended due to bugs and bacteria together with the country’s temperature.”

“My son had a fever and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea after drinking watermelon juice.”

“Another food blogger I follow also went crazy after eating raw marinated food in Thailand.”

“A Thai tour guide in Bangkok recommended me not to eat raw seafood because Bangkok is far from the sea, so the seafood ingredients are not that fresh. I went to a night market as well but did not try them.”

“Last time I ate seafood in Thailand, I got an infection and inflammation in the digestive system. So scary. Travel insurance is a must. No more eating out.”

The Thai Facebook page, Ai Zhong, expressed an opinion that Jason consumed several raw dishes at the same time, which could have increased the risk of suffering from food poisoning.

The page administrator also disagreed that Thai food was unclean, saying that every country has both clean and unclean food and that visitors should be aware of this before eating.