Cookaholics Bulletin Board

... now they have proof:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/health/sa ... index.html

This also means I'm gonna stick to making gravlax from frozen salmon, I think.

Simply freezing may not destroy this. I remember reading something about freezing fish to - 40F, to destroy all of the parasites.

I'll stick with cooking.

The rules in Ontario are (or were .. the status seems uncertain right now)



I'd be curious if the gravlax curing also kills the worms.

I'd be suspicious of the salt killing them, given their eventual home in digestive juices. Also, the eggs of some parasitic worms have survived long stints in formaldehyde.

Still want to eat sushi?

Sure, love the stuff! The risk when well prepared seems slight. OTOH, when I go to a mexican resort, I don't eat the sushi.

Dave,

Salt != acidity. From what I've searched out, the regimen of freeze, thaw, cure in salt seems to be adequate to destroy tapeworms and roundworms. However, acid cures (ceviche) do little to kill parasites. both because they're shorter and (as you point out) are less potent than stomach acid.

Another reference to sushi (though back in the 70s they were not using this term much yet) that I recall from that parasitology class was about a common protozoan parasite that visitors to Japan would often contract. It would cause nausea and diarrhea, but nothing life threatening - sort of like eating at a bad restaurant. Yet a large majority of the locals, when checked for the parasite, had it in their blood, but showed no symptoms! The theory was, that since they were exposed to these things from early on, they became immune to them.

I just saw a newscast that mentioned the tapeworm in wild salmon. They also said that "adequately" cooking or freezing the fish will destroy the worm, but didn't say what adequate would be.

Dave,

Apparently some Japanese staple foods, like shiso leaf, act as mild anti-parasite treatments.

The FDA thinks that "adequate" freezing is -20F for at least 7 hours. Does that translate to 20F for 2 weeks? No idea.

Note that the Japanese tapeworm is apparently pretty mild ... most people who get it don't know, they just think they have chronic indigestion or something. Heck, maybe I have it ...