TENYKS

I was bored while waiting for my flight.(3-hour delay and my Star Gold status was useless because there are no Star Alliance lounges at this big airport)

Anyway, I started browsing YouTube for sushi videos, since I was heading to Japan.

After a couple of videos, I noticed a strange video in Japanese. I couldn't understand Japanese, but it was clear that a Japanese guy found a 2-inch worm next to his plate of sushi/sashimi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx6UOLQ_Y0A

Sushi restaruant in New York (parasite clearly visible, still embedded inside the fish)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKUa8mRbNU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEDbNcFaJz8

As with anything on YouTube, one video leads to another... within a few minutes I went through dozens and dozens of video showing diners finding parasite on their raw fish. It wasn't just in Japan. Many were captured at Japanese restaurants in the US, UK, China and even Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL9CVDEkDt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BavE2GVEUIw

There were even several showing a Chinese guy who loved sushi, but ended up with tapeworm EVERYWHERE in his body(shown on x-ray images).

Pretty safe to say that I've lost my appetite for sushi for a few days, if not weeks. However, I doubt that I'll stop eating sushi. I just want to know how I can avoid it from ever happening to me. Some of the restaurants in those video appear to be very good ones(expensive, upscale), but yet people still found parasite. Ok, it's rare, but aren't there methods that fish suppliers or sushi chefs are supposed to do to lower the risk? Now I guess those little "eating raw fish" warning cards at some U.S. restaurants aren't kidding.

Now... why is absolutely no Star Alliance lounge at some big airports? (guess that's for another thread... )

YVR Cockroach

Parasites in fish are a fact of life.

Fish are supposed to be flash frozen to kill the parasites

Sushi chefs (trained ones anyway) are supposed to keep an eye out for them

Never eat sushi made from freshwater fish (more likely to host parasites that will live in humans)

I don't think there's a tapeworm that alternates between fish and human hosts

BSBD

Just skip the sushi and eat the fugu instead

TENYKS

you mean a relatively fast death from fugu is preferable to a
slow and painful death from having worms inside for months?

can't argue with that! ^

KevinDTW

The fish with the most parasites are easy to avoid in sushi restaurants: wild salmon, especially Alaskan King, and cod. If you stick with tuna/yellowtail/salmon (in a sushi restaurant the salmon is virtually always farm-raised)/and eel (broiled) you'll be fine. If you're really concerned, just examine the fish before eating each piece -- the most common parasites are pinworms or nematodes and they can usually be seen in fish cut as thinly as most places slice the pieces for nigiri. They usually look like a piece of thin white dental floss about 1/4" or so -- and will move around a bit, especially if touched by any salt (such as that in soy sauce). But any fish served as sushi-grade is supposed to have been frozen to a temperature of -4F for at least 7 days to kill any parasites.

But there's really no reason to be overly concerned -- I prepare and serve my own sashimi and sushi at home so I've learned a bit about this, but I've never had a problem in a restaurant. The one time I did have a problem was at home with a piece of Alaskan King salmon, and frankly it was easy to spot them. If you do you can either just scrape them off and eat the fish anyway (might want to cook your fish that night) or return the fish to the store. FWIW I understand that Alaskan fishermen are so used to seeing the worms in salmon that they just scrape them off and eat the fish -- no, I couldn't do that either!

TENYKS

I don't want to Google this any further because I'm afraid of what I'll find.

Just tell me this... what will happen if I eat a piece of salmon with a live worm still in it? (not too much information, please...)

Thanks!

KevinDTW

No, you can go ahead and google it -- most articles addressing this will actually put your mind more at ease because they will help convince you that there's really nothing to be too concerned about. For the most part the worst that would happen is that you would get sick for a day or two. Of course there are worse possibilities, but it's a little like worrying about getting mad cow disease from eating meat -- possible, sure, but highly unlikely.

GuyverII

This.

flipstah

If you knew the conditions of some restaurants in the world, it'll make you not want to eat out.

What you can't see can't harm you. Don't watch YouTube videos lol.

cruisr

Ya wanna talk Parasites? Go to the above museum in Tokyo. My DH and I actually found it very interesting even though most of it was in Japanese. After visiting we went out for sushi!

TENYKS

That's excellent advice!

Mauibaby2008

This is so interesting. Tuna is my *favorite* so doesn't seem to be a problem for me, but my other half lives Salmon...

Haha next time we eat sushi I will bring this up!

hco

That depends om where you are of course! =)

The best raw fish I've had was swimming around in a tank outside the restaurant 20 min before I ate it. No time for freezing!

TENYKS

wait, this tuna sushi has live worm moving around inside the tuna.... too bad the uploader of that video didn't not say which New York restaurant it was...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKUa8mRbNU

KevinDTW

You are correct; I should have specified that I was talking about sushi-grade fish in the U.S. being frozen to kill parasites. I don't know what the rules are elsewhere (although I have happily eaten sushi in Japan, Korea, and other places without any problem).