Food in Mexico safe?

[Dave]

I am quite particular about cleanliness when it comes to food preparation and service. In the Philippines it was not that hard to find places that were clean and served food that was safe. You just had to be observant of things when you went in. Despite the dirty streets and river of sewage by the base, the typical citizen was quite devoted to the cleanliness of their homes and kitchens. I've never seen a people who swept and scrubbed so often!

Of course the public appearance of an eatery is no guarantee of safety, but you do have to take some risk and with me it usually is if the management cares enough about keeping the front of the restaurant spotless, they most often will enforce the same standards in the back of the restaurant. I got this from my mother of course, who was very stringent in the kitchen. This was reinforced by her many years of working in the commercial food industry.