Safe food and water when travelling

Pathogens – bacteria, viruses and parasites – enter the body by three main routes: contaminated water, raw or insufficiently heated food, and hands. Where sewage and drinking water are not safely separated, or food stands around for a long time without refrigeration, the risk is higher.

Heat, treatment and hygiene interrupt these routes. Thorough heating kills most pathogens; that is why freshly cooked food served hot is safer than a buffet that has stood lukewarm for a long time. Peeling removes the surface that germs cling to. Soap loosens dirt and germs from the skin, and rinsing carries them away.

The World Health Organization sums up safe food hygiene in five key rules: keep clean, separate raw and cooked food, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, and use safe water and raw materials. These rules apply at home just as much as when travelling.

Water: use sealed bottles, boiled or self-treated water – for everything that goes into your mouth, including brushing your teeth. Ice cubes are often forgotten, and so are drinks mixed with tap water. How good the tap water is at your destination is something you learn from travel advice and travel-health information.

Food: prefer freshly cooked dishes that arrive at the table hot. Fruit you peel yourself is a good choice. Be careful with raw salads, raw eggs, unpasteurised milk and buffets that have been standing for a long time. A well-known travellers' saying goes: “Boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it.”

Hands: wash them with soap before eating and after using the toilet. Hand sanitiser is a supplement on the go, but it does not replace washing when hands are visibly dirty. None of these rules offers complete protection, but together they reduce the risk considerably.

On treks without supplies you often have to treat water yourself. Proven methods are boiling, and filtering followed by disinfection. A filter alone does not make water safe: many filters hold back bacteria and parasites, but not necessarily viruses. That is why disinfection follows filtering, for example by boiling or with a suitable disinfectant according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Boiling is the simplest and most reliable method if you have fuel: bring the water to a rolling boil. The water treatment entries on this platform explain the methods in more detail. Where local authorities give advice on drinking water, such as a boil-water notice, it always takes priority.

With diarrhoea the body loses water and salts. That is why drinking plenty is important – with safe water. Whether you should carry oral rehydration solutions to replace fluid and salts, and how to use them, is something to discuss before the trip with a doctor or a travel-medicine service. This page gives no medication recommendations and no treatment instructions.

Watch for warning signs: blood in the stool, high fever, severe pain or signs of dehydration such as passing very little urine, severe dizziness or confusion. Infants and small children, pregnant women and older people need particular care because they can become dehydrated faster. In these cases seek medical help; in an emergency call the local emergency number (112 in the EU).