FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - so many parasite in sushi videos on YouTube, how does one avoid it from happening?
Old Dec 11, 2014, 12:56 pm
  #5  
KevinDTW
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: DL PM, 1MM, DL SC, Kimpton Inner Circle
Posts: 2,416
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!
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