Pinoy favorites lechon, isaw, spaghetti are ‘most dangerous’ treats

What are some of the most delicious Filipino dishes?

Many would agree on lechon, isaw and sweet spaghetti.

And what are some of the most deadly Filipino dishes?

That’s right: lechon, isaw and sweet spaghetti.

A University of the Philippines professor warned yesterday that these top favorite Filipino dishes are also top carriers of bacteria and disease.

These delicacies were actually the top three in a search for the most "dangerous" Filipino dishes, largely because of the insufficient cooking methods involved.

Prof. Ma. Patricia V. Avanza, Ph.D. of the Food Science and Nutrition Department of the UP College of Home Economics in Diliman, Quezon City had audience members wide-eyed when she revealed this yesterday at a media conference on food safety, nutrition and health in Makati.

Avanza, who was among the speakers invited by the Asian Food Information Center, a Singapore-based organization promoting food safety, proper nutrition and good health among Asian countries, believes most roasted foods here — especially so-called "street food" — are improperly cooked.

Lechon (roasted pig), she explained, may be delicious but it is usually cooked in a way that only allows the outer part to be heated, while the insides are shielded by the tough skin of the pig, often treated with additives to achieve an ideal "crispy" result.

This method of preparation almost guarantees that parasites present in all raw meat products are not sufficiently cooked, though she allowed that no hard studies back up her claims about lechon.

"There is a need to establish a standardized procedure in cooking lechon," she stressed. "You have to understand that normally, pork meat would have parasites and if it is not properly cooked, there will be things that will survive," she told The STAR.

"This is just based on unofficial reports. Lechon might possibly have this problem," she said, adding that it warrants further scientific studies to verify the claim.

As for isaw (grilled chicken intestines) and spaghetti (usually cooked with a sweet sauce for local tastes), Avanza said studies showed these dishes were often improperly cooked or stored, allowed disease-causing organisms to proliferate.

Isaw, she said, is a very popular street food, but everyone knows chicken intestines can never be thoroughly cleaned, inside and out.

She told The STAR that the "bitter" taste which greets your mouth when you bite into the fried chicken intestines can be identified.

"That bitter taste is fecal matter," she announced, raising gasps and yelps of disgust from her listeners.

"Normally, yung internal temperature, pag nag-co-cook ka ng isaw, hindi adequate eh," she explained, pointing out that not only is isaw usually improperly cooked, it is improperly cleaned.

"There are those street vendors who do it well, but there are those who don’t. Alam naman natin na street vendors yan, di nila nililinis yung loob and they cannot turn it inside out," Avanza said.

As for spaghetti, this local favorite seems quite harmless; it’s even a staple at children’s parties.

The problem, according to Avanza, is that Filipinos have "indigenized" the way this pasta treat is prepared and stored because it is very easy to make.

Spaghetti tops her list of most dangerous Filipino dishes because the dish is usually cooked in mass quantities and stored for more than 24 hours, whereas cooked food should be stored and consumed within two hours at room temperature.

Avanza spoke of other food-borne disease carriers like water, bahaw or cold rice, bakery and confectionery products, and toxin-containing or inedible food.

From 1995 to 2004, she said spaghetti and other meat products including processed meat topped the list of "dangerous" foods.

As for 2005, outbreaks brought cassava cakes to the number one spot because of an incident at a Mabini, Bohol school in which a dozen children died after eating the popular snack. Spaghetti ranked second and third for incidents of food contamination in Concepcion, Tarlac and Pangasinan, she noted.

Avanza, who is currently a food safety consultant at the Bureau of Quarantine and International Health Surveillance of the Department of Health, said knowing the dangers in what you eat should not create panic, but awareness.

Food, she stressed, will not carry microbes and other parasites if it is properly handled and stored.

Simply following the basics of safe food preparation, cooking and storage will stop most food-borne diseases from spreading.

Avanza said kitchens must be kept clean; raw and cooked food should be stored and prepared separately; and food must be cooked or reheated thoroughly, especially fried rice which is usually cooked faster. Clean water is also essential in any kitchen, she noted.

And while lechon, isaw and spaghetti may be delicacies that Filipinos would die for, they don’t have to do so literally.