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Re: [at-l] Water treatment

Milt Webb, IQ Software wrote:
[clip]
> This assumes that what you eat and drink in civilization is
> any cleaner. I've been sicker than a dog from meals served in
> restaurants enough times to be more concerned about eating out,
> than what may be in a forest stream. Simple iodine treatment
> or boiling is plenty enough for me.
> 
> Anyone who eats, for example, poultry should not let themselves
> get all bothered by the possibility of trace amounts of duck
> crap in their drinking water. Actually, processed meat in general
> is pretty disgusting. It's enough to make one go vegetarian.

The single biggest problem, both in civilization and in the woods with food
preparation is sanitation. If you don't wash between the toilet and the table,
you will eat what you poop. These pathogens will give you diarrhea. The food
borne diseases such as salmonella and ecoli are all killed in the cooking
process if you cook your food rather than just heat it, and most of us
transport them back to the cooked food on the cooking surfaces that touched
the raw food in the first place.

When I'm drying food for a trip, I wash the counter, cutting boards, and the
dryer trays with a mild bleach solution. My hands get washed with a germicidal
soap and dried on a clean cloth. The food is handled as little as possible,
both before and after drying.

Perhaps I'm overly careful, but I don't want to take any more chances than I
already take. I would like to know that my food supply is untainted. I know
that my hands are clean when I enter my kitchen - either in the woods or at home.

I've seen people suggest you leave the soap at home when thru-hiking to save
weight. No thank you. If you're one of those people who chooses to trust in
something other than washing your hands for sanitation in the woods, please
don't offer to fill my water container either...

-Paddler
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