OceanBreeze1

Hi, Everybody,
My son is in Italy for the next 9 days and then Spain & France until the end of May. He just told me that he has a bad case of what he thinks is food poisoning. Last night in Venice he had seafood pasta w/ scallops & shrimp in a cream sauce. He also drank tap water which the restaurant served w/ the meal. I am wondering if it was the tap water that made him sick. He is the only one in his group who drank the tap water & his friends had the pasta so it looks like it may have been the water.

So, is it safe to drink the water in Italy/ Spain/France or should they drink only bottled water?

Any tips for avoiding food poisoning?

adrienne

Yes, it's safe to drink the tap water. Maybe he just had a stomach upset and not food poisoning.

Palenque

How to avoid food poisoning in Italy and Spain - exactly the same way you would back in the States.

European water may even be better than American since they often use the better ozonization filtering process that few American water sources use. In old hotels or buildings with ancient plumbing however you may want to drink bottled water

alihutch

The water is safe and the food is safe, just like in the US of A. And as in the US of A, sometimes sh@t happens and people get food poisoning, or are ill.

kerouac

Most "food poisoning" is psychosomatic in the developed countries. If the others made remarks that he shouldn't be drinking the tap water, that is enough to set it off.

mimipam

I don't remember drinking bottled water in Italy (not lately anyway) or France. Never been to Spain. I even drank from a running fountain in Rome - I guess I was desperate. Years ago when we went to Egypt and even later on our travels, our doctor recommended chewing pepto bismol tablets before eating as they would coat the stomach and "help" just in case. We sometimes do this even now if we think we should.
Sorry your son is ill. Hope he recovers speedily.

sap

Maybe it was the cream sauce? Sometimes restaurants use a lot more butter, dairy and other fats than we may consume at home in our regular diet. A person who is mildly lactose intolerant or slightly allergic to animal fats won't notice the ill effects (which can mimic food poisoning) unless they consume a quantity they're not used to. That would also explain why his friends were not bothered.

If it's the abundance of butter & cream, I'm sure he'll soon be able to confirm this when he gets to France.

SuzChicago

I actually had a seafood dish that I split with my husband in Lisbon a few years a go. I got food poisoning and he did not. Only once piece of shrimp or scallop has to have turned bad to get food-related illnesses, and your son could have been the unfortunate recipient on that luck of the draw. He can expect 24 to 48 hours that are difficult and then should be better. I can assure you, it wasn't psychosomatic!

Underhill

Sometimes what seems like food poisoning is actually a fast-acting stomach flu.

RM67

The seafood is the most likely culprit - prawns are a common cause of food poisoning if the gut hasn't been removed - and that can happen anywhere.

Won't be the water which is fine to drink in all the countries mentioned. (We used to fill water bottles from the drinking fountains in Venice - no ill effects).

quokka

Yes' I'd also suspect the seafood before anything else. Or the stomach flu virus. Definitely not the tap water.

BigRuss

Discuss w/him what his symptoms were, he may have just had a brief case of the s--ts because he's not used to the food. But water in Spain, Italy and France is fine. Better than the tap water in So. Cal.

There are some places where the water systems may be iffy -- in Santorini the tap water was not kosher but that was 9 years ago. In major Italian cities, it should be fine.

LSky

I drink a lot of water in Europe at home it has never made me sick.

Hope he's back on his feet soon.

kybourbon

Tap water is fine in Italy. They've had running water for thousands of years (BC times), long before the US. Some people do get a touch of food poisoning, but it's also as likely that the food was just too rich. Any cream sauce or cheese sauce can cause problems (a cheese fondue can have the same effect), but it's not food poisoning. They tend to use a lot more oil than we do and if you aren't used to it, then it can have side effects.

Ackislander

He didn't get poisoned by the water. Rest assured. But it probably was not just the rich sauce, either.

RM67 and SuzChicago are almost certainly correct that it was one or another of the seafood items, since it only takes one piece. My daughter and I spent an agonizing night after eating a very expensive prawn cocktail in Scotland.

I still eat all the seafood I can get my hands on, but I am aware of the risk of eating raw oysters in particular.

portuense

Careful...here in europe cholera is still rife from the standpumps in the town squares...

Aduchamp1

It might have been that restaurant but I have never had a problem with the water in Europe and we have been traveling there regularly since 1972. And we have spent a great deal of time in Spain.

annhig

sounds like your DS has just been unlucky. DH and I once had a crab dish that seriously ruined the next 24 hours - but that was in Devon. I stick to Cornish crabs now. seriously, he needs to keep up his fluids - if he can't get any re-hydrate solution flat coke is good. The water from the taps is his friend, not his enemy. once he feels well again, if he sticks to fish and meat, rather than shellfish, he's unlikely to get actual poisoning.

alihutch

Of course, your boy might just have over inbibed and not wished to let on...

Gretchen

It could happen at the neighborhood pizzeria. Ask him what he had to drink--other than water, would be my estimation. And don't tell me he is underage!! Just the cynic in me.