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...
)