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'Sushi parasites' have increased 283-fold in past 40 years
- davycro 7y agoI thought all sushi had to be flash frozen to kill parasites. Is this a myth?
- boromi 7y agosame
- dekken_ 7y agoI believe this the case for fish in general https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Dq6_HHfUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Dq6_HHfUA <3 Brad
- DennisP 7y agoLast I saw, that was the case in the U.S. but not Japan. Sometimes there were still U.S. cases from people making sushi at home. I'm no expert though.
- lainga 7y agoException is for very deepwater fish like yellowfin tuna and skipjack.
- tyfon 7y agoYou will still eat the worms, not that it is necessarily a bad thing. When I go fish in the south of Norway I see these worms in maybe 1 out of 10 fish I catch. I personally don't eat them but I don't think it's unhealthy as long as they are dead. Considering health and seafood, I'd be much more worried about is eating Norwegian farmed salmon, that stuff is poison [1]. The amount of toxins has not go down since this article was warning Norwegians. I never touch it myself and the wild fish you catch close to the mares are monsters compared to the fish that does not consume leftovers from feeding the salmon. [1] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vg.no%2Fforbruker%2Fhelse%2Fi%2FRLL6d%2Fleger-og-professorer-ikke-spis-oppdrettslaks https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&u=https%3... (Google translate)
- GordonS 7y agoI read something recently about AquaStorm, which aims to move fish farms out of the fjords and into deeper sea water, with the purported benefits of avoiding sea lice and disease. Do you have an insider opinion on this?
- tyfon 7y agoI'm not an insider, just a Norwegian that consumes seafood :) But that might help if they reduce the drugs they put in the feed. However I think what needs to happen is that they stop poisoning public waters and move everything to highly controlled on-shore facilities. I would still be worried about heavy metals etc as the feed contains left-overs from other fish like bones (high in toxins) and fatty tissues that humans don't want to eat. They take the "role" of the apex predator except for us and it's typical that the higher you are in the food chain the more toxins build up.
- ksec 7y agoAs far as I know, most ( or at least All current export I know of ) Farmed Salmon are Deep Sea type Farmed Salmon. The idea is instead of having the possibility of them going to fresh water to spawn, they are kept at specific region of deep sea and greatly reduce the chances of getting parasites. So I am not entirely sure what the article is suggesting. May be for Salmon that is not intend to be served as sushi? Because Freshwater Salmon doesn't fit that bill.
- majos 7y agoPer the article, “increased 283-fold” means a specific variety of worm is now more common in the fish. It doesn’t mean parasites have become more common in people. It’s consistent with these results for sushi freezing to still kill the worms.
- weaksauce 7y agoNot all fish is required to be frozen to kill the parasites actually. there are classes of fish that are considered not significantly dangerous to warrant that procedure. I looked up the fda guidelines on it a while ago.
- molticrystal 7y agoAt least for the US, they requires some type of process but it is messier than perhaps it should be. For one the responsibility for freezing the fish can be shifted between the restaurant serving and the vendor, and might not be effective. This is because time tables for acceptable methods of freezing fish vary in length depending on the temperature they are stored at. Some of the higher temperatures takes a couple weeks, and for example a restaurant might be buying fresh fish and not storing them in a freezer long enough.
- proverbialbunny 7y agoI heard flash freezing can make the sushi taste better too. Does anyone know if this true?
- throwaway17_17 7y agoThe effect of freezing on taste is certainly subjective, but it is not seen to be detrimental to the taste or texture. In fact, several renowned masters are in record as preferring there fish to be raw at purchase and then they freeze them themselves using low temperature deep freezers for set periods of time. I do find the effects of freezing to enhance the preparations, but then I tend to agree with the Japanese philosophy that sushi is about the rice, and the fish is just a condiment.
- beatgammit 7y agoWell yeah, sushi is the rice itself, while sashimi is the raw fish itself. If you have a mixture of both, it's still called it sushi. You can also have sushi with vegetables or fruits and no fish or meat. Your sushi can come with or without seaweed. Korea has a similar dish called kimbap, which literally translates to "seaweed rice", so having something other than a roll wouldn't be kimbap anymore. Also, Korean kimbap uses a different recipe for the rice (usually sesame oil and salt), so it can't even be considered a special case of sushi (rice with vinegar and sugar). I feel far too many people don't understand what sushi is, even if the consider it one of their favorite foods.
- cnst 7y agoExcept Tuna, because Tuna is known to be exceptionally clean fish. Salmon definitely needs to be frozen.
- dntbnmpls 7y ago> Is this a myth? No. Fish for sushi is recommended to be flash frozen or frozen for X number of days to kill the parasites. FDA recommendations for freezing fish to kill parasites. "Freezing and storing at an ambient temperature of -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time), or freezing at an ambient temperature of -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at an ambient temperature of -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or freezing at an ambient temperature of -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at an ambient temperature of -4°F (-20°C) or below for 24 hours are sufficient to kill parasites. Note that these conditions may not be suitable for freezing particularly large fish (e.g., thicker than 6 inches). " https://www.fda.gov/media/80777/download https://www.fda.gov/media/80777/download You could freeze fish in your freezer since most freezers can do -4°F or lower, but it will just take longer to kill the parasites. People also catch fish, check for parasites visually and then prepare it sushi/sashimi style and eat it. Even here, you'll generally be okay but the odds of getting sick increases. Also, the article is from eurekaalrt and the headline is clickbait nonsense. Even if "sushi parasite" increased 283 fold, what's the increase in sushi consumption? It went from pretty much 0 40 years ago to being almost ubiquitous today.
- beatgammit 7y agoI'm pretty sure "sushi grade" fish is fish that has been frozen properly, and restaurants have to follow FDA guidelines on raw foods like this. It's not just a good idea, it's the law (in the US). Honestly, my wife and I often forego the freeze step when we make sushi at home. Yes, it's an increased risk, but it's a risk we both accept, and since we typically buy fillets, it's quite possible that it has already been frozen properly but the store isn't comfortable making guarantees.
- etrk 7y agoIt's a recommendation by the FDA in the US, not an enforced regulation.
- csytan 7y agoFrom the article: "Despite their name, herring worms can be found in a variety of marine fish and squid species. When people eat live herring worms, the parasite can invade the intestinal wall and cause symptoms that mimic those of food poisoning, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. In most cases, the worm dies after a few days and the symptoms disappear."
- philshem 7y agoIf parasites weren't bad enough: > They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html > A piece of tuna sushi has the potential to be an endangered species, a fraud or a health hazard. All three of these cases were uncovered in this study. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0007866 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... and https://www.wired.com/2009/11/tunadna/ https://www.wired.com/2009/11/tunadna/
- dghughes 7y agoI'm not a fish eating person but I live in a fishing (and farming) region. I've heard people from here who have gone away on vacation say often the fish they are served is wrong. Usually it's a cheaper type substituted for more expensive species of fish.
- dependenttypes 7y agoThis happens extremely often in Greece, targetting clueless tourists.
- metroholografix 7y agoI seriously doubt that this happens "extremely often" in Greece. First, for small fish like fresh anchovies and sardines (extremely popular and widely sold) this problem is nonexistent. Most/all tavernas and inexpensive restaurants in Greece that have bigger fresh fish on the menu encourage you to go into the kitchen and either pick the fish yourself or watch it being picked/prepared for you. Additionally, when grilled or fried the entire fish is served on the plate. Finally, the really expensive gourmet fish restaurants have a reputation to uphold and wouldn't risk it to target "clueless tourists".
- paulsutter 7y agoWhere was the testing? After living in Japan I stopped eating sushi in the US. It's always painful when someone asks me to recommend a "good sushi place" here, I'm not sure what to say.
- Axsuul 7y agoJust say Los Angeles
- defterGoose 7y agoYep, never been to Japan but I can confidently say there are plenty of excellent sushi restaurants here in LA.
- paulsutter 7y agoIf you would like to try sushi you should spend time in Japan
- beatgammit 7y agoThat's kind of a long trip for a meal.
- defterGoose 7y agoI mean, I have. Pretty sure the Japanese dudes serving me omakase knew what they were doing. Would love to go to Japan eventually.
- Axsuul 7y agoI have tried lots of sushi in Japan and it's just as good in LA.
- yellowapple 7y agoOr Reno. Seriously, the sushi places here are on average at least on par with (if not better than) what you'd get from most coastal cities (LA and SF included), and certainly better than what you can find in other "inland" cities, and are almost always all-you-can-eat at a much lower price point than what most coastal cities offer (my favorite here, Tokyo Sushi, even throws in all-you-can-drink sake Monday through Thursday; it ain't great sake, but it does the job). My hypothesis is that the casinos have built up a strong supply chain for fresh fish (in order to supply their restaurants, including sushi bars) and a talent pool for chefs skilled with handling/preparing fish (including sushi chefs), and independent sushi bars are thus able to piggyback on both. I'm suddenly curious if Vegas has a similar dynamic (I haven't been there enough to know). Yeah, the rolls and stuff are definitely pretty thoroughly "Americanized", but the nigiri's almost always top-notch wherever I go.
- mirekrusin 7y agoI also heard that salmon farming is the biggest "consumer" of antibiotics, is that true?
- pvaldes 7y agoNot even remotely playing in the same league as chicken
- scottlocklin 7y agoThis is a horse shit study turned into click bait. It's a meta analysis (aka they built linear regression models on top of reported numbers in papers over a 37 year time span) and they explicitly state that it mostly applies to cetaceans rather than human beings. There are other results in the paper that indicate the methodology was flawed: aka other closely related, or ecologically similar worm species didn't increase in the samples in the meta data. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mYokKOGyhQxKntSnogcm_ZFSzLMK-aB7 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mYokKOGyhQxKntSnogcm... There's a larger lesson to be learned here, but at the moment stating the obvious about mass media dipshits reporting on bad stats doesn't seem to be appreciated.
- tomaszs 7y agoThis article is a clickbait. The title tells about sushi parasites, but there is no such thing.
- egberts1 7y agoThat proverbial gas station sushi. There, I said it, mark me down. It was worth it.