Food for Thought, Udon in top 5 for food poisoning

This probably won't come as a surprise to many folks, but according to the Thai Department of Disease Control, Udon ranks in the top 5 locations for food poisoning, up there with Pitsanulok, Ubon, Amnat Charoen, and Khon Kaen. The rate of incidence in Udon (as reported!) is 110.21 per hundred thousand population. Among the foods to be careful of: ice-cream, noodles, and raw pork or beef lahb.
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And since ice-cream is one of the culprits, I'll end this piece with a short story:

Once upon a time about 1996, we lived in downtown Udon. In the neighborhood was a poor family that lived in an old wooden home next to a klong. The family raised ducks in the klong and made their own coconut ice-cream. After shaving the coconut, they'd allow it to dry in the sun on the side of the road....as the day wore on, an occasional dog/duck would pass over the coconut while cars/motorcycles/trucks also passed within a foot or two of the drying sheets.
Each morning, after making a fresh batch of ice-cream, the family matriarch would mount her bicycle ice-cream cart with a lovely umbrella.....she, all duded up in her finest dress. If you were to encounter her as she peddled her wares through the side streets of Udon, you'd probably not give a second thought to the 'manufacturing process' for her ice-cream.
I used to be a fan of the bike vendors selling homemade ice-cream.........but now I get my fix at Swenson's where I've been told the coconut isn't dried on the side of the road.

When I lived in Phuket, I became acquainted with a family who set up their daily restaurant on the beach, from the back of their pickup truck. They had one of the better locations in the center of Patong Beach, and quite nice food. Let's call her "Nok."

When my dad and stepmom came to visit, I introduced them to Nok as they are all bird lovers, so we were invited to Nok's house to see her birds. In the front room of Nok's house, hanging from the ceiling, were countless bird cages full of birds.

The food prep for the restaurant was being done on the floor, right below the cages overhead. That was 1996 and marks when I gave up eating from most street vendors.

A significant reason will the the lack of temp control for the meats, Beef and chicken especially.

Look at the chicken, pork and beef at Nong Bua market, sitting on a block of ice doesnt keep it at 4-7 C and whats the control measures for it before it gets to the market,

These figues will be very subjective as in they are the ones who presented to a clinic / hospital .