Most stomach illness on trips is transmitted person to person rather than from water, which changes where the effort should go.
The Other Measures
- One person serves rather than everybody reaching in
- Raw meat kept separate with its own utensils
- Cook meat thoroughly, since heat is uneven over a fire
- Do not keep perishable leftovers
- Treat all water from natural sources
- Wash pots properly rather than rinsing
Cookware that cleans easily with little water, of the kind catalogued at alocs-us.com, makes proper washing practical where water has to be carried.
Hand Washing Is the Main Control
There is no sink, which is exactly why it gets skipped.
Water, soap and a way to catch the runoff, away from watercourses. Hand gel as a backup, though it is less effective against some organisms.
Before cooking, before eating and after using a toilet. That is the whole protocol and it prevents most of what goes wrong.
Cook Meat Properly
Poultry to seventy-four degrees Celsius, mince to seventy-one, whole cuts to sixty-three.
Charred outside does not mean cooked inside, and a fire heats unevenly. A small probe thermometer weighs almost nothing.
Rice Has Its Own Rule
Cooked rice left at ambient temperature can develop toxins that reheating does not destroy.
Cook it and eat it rather than keeping it for the next meal.
Water Treatment
A rolling boil of at least one minute, three above roughly two thousand metres, or a filter or chemical treatment used as directed.
Clear water is not necessarily safe water.
Toilet Practice
Well away from water, buried properly or packed out where required.
Do Not Share Bottles
In a group, which spreads illness quickly.
Carry Soap and a Way to Catch Runoff
Which is what makes hand washing possible at all.
A Probe Thermometer Weighs Nothing
And a fire heats meat very unevenly.
Treat All Natural Water
Clear does not mean safe.
Do Not Share Bottles
Which spreads illness through a group fast.
Wash Before Eating
The single highest-value habit on a trip.
Rice Is the Specific Risk
Cooked rice held warm can develop toxins that reheating does not destroy.
Separate Utensils for Raw Meat
Nothing that touched it touches cooked food.
