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Sushi Safety: Parasites?
Alright, mercury I can take, but parasites? I have heard stories of people getting sick because of parasites but I have always thought that they were merely urban legends. When I ran across Ross Christensen’s series of posts on “How Safe Is Your Sushi?”, I realized just how serious this issue can be. In the course of my research, I also ran across other articles with opposing views.
Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, encourages others to go ahead and eat sushi. She states:
• Order sushi from reputable restaurants, where the restaurant and fish provider follow food safety standards. You can ask if the fish has been previously frozen.
• Completely cooked is always the safest way to eat fish
• The FDA recommends that you don’t risk eating raw fish if you’re pregnant or have a compromised immune system.
• Don’t make your own sushi with raw fish unless you can freeze the fish for more than 72 hours at 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
On the other hand, Michael Vaughn is strongly opposed to eating raw fish himself:
It’s not that I’m opposed to it; I’ve just been working in the seafood industry for too long that the thought of eating sashimi and raw-form sushi gives me the willies.
That’s not to say that he discourages others from doing it. He has some nice tips in his article as well.
So it’s up to you. Should you eat raw fish? I personally think that if you like it, go ahead. You should just follow the suggestions provided by experts. The Japanese have been eating sushi all their lives – how many people do you know have had cases of parasite infection because of it?
Photo courtesy of Giant Gingko
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Posted June 14th, 2008 by Maki |2 Responses to “Sushi Safety: Parasites?”
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If these guys are talking about fish in the States then I heartily agree but every country’s industry is different.
Here in Australia it is similar but we don’t have the nutrient crisis that is in the States you just have to be sensible: it’s best to know your fishmonger. My fishmonger in Melbourne would put a choice cut of fresh salmon and tuna away for me knowing I would be there each Tuesday in Summer to Autumn and I would make homemade sushi/sashimi that night but on the days in between all fish would be cooked. I haven’t found a fishmonger in Sydney that I am happy with and miss fish enormously - good quality fish is one of the major things I am looking forward to when we move to Japan (in 8 days!!)
Fish is certainly not the only thing to be careful of in the States - there is a real crisis of nutrients there. I was in LA in ‘05 and seriously couldn’t believe how poor quality the food was even when we had the money to shop at the “gourmet” supermarkets. I tried to explain to one of my mother’s friends (I was visiting my mother in Cal) that vegetables in Australia have different flavours and are not just colour and fibre! The eggs particularly were appalling even the “free range” ones and I couldn’t bring myself to buy the meat in the supermarkets and yet could not find a butcher anywhere.
Unfortunately the situation in Sydney is similar and I’m sure will eventually spread across the country too if we aren’t careful. Farming fish or farming oranges purely for quantity is always going to have nutritional repercussions.
In Spain we eat some kinds of raw fish as well. Since about one year ago, serving raw fish in restaurants is forbidden, unless its previously frozen, the way you explain above.
There has been some debate about it: people did’t want to change their habbits, all those expensive, elegant restaurants oppossed.
But a year latter, people have forgotten about it, and I don’t really remember it, when I eat raw fish.