Are there any danger in consuming Sushi or Sashimi?

Question

I just recieved an email from a friend telling me to stop eating sushi or any other raw fish. Apparently someone in Japan got a headache after consuming sushi and sashimi for sometime. Turns out, there were tapeworms in his brain which, at least according to the email, could only come from the raw fish that he ate. The email also said that tapeworms, roundworms and their eggs are abound in all fish, fresh or saltwater and can only be killed by thorough cooking and/or freezing the fish to between -4 deg C - 0 degsC. Is this true???

Answer 1

there's a big difff between sushi and sashimi w/c the American culture sometimes misunderstood. Sushi is made up of cooked ingredients such as rice, fish cake, shrimp, cucumber,carrots,
and the like rolled up in dry seaweed. Distilled vinegar is used.
Vinegar as you know is good as a bacteria killer or pickling. Sashimi on the other hand is plain raw fish. The japanese culture from w/c these two derived use special kind o f fish not just any a kind of fish. Eating sashimi is safe if it's prepared a certain way that is using soy sauce and vinegar, sesame seed oil to cure it then dipped in spicy sauce,wasabi,mustard,and the like to further kill any bacteria or worms. tequila worm is okay in tequila as liquor or alchol is antiseptic. They use it to clean the wounds as you see them in war or cowboy movies. However one could still contract food poisoning, when the raw fish is not clean properly, fillet, washed, or already spoiled or prepared properly. Eating it fresh always helps. .Also using the right rype of fish helps esp saltwater caught as salt is another good form of bacteria killer. that's why soy sauce is usually used another
good source of salt. But the best thumb rule is to avoid eating raw fish. Cooked is so much better. for the discriminating palette. Or as somebody says here eat in reputable places or your familiar hang- outs.

Answer 2

I love sushi and sashimi. I eat it at least once a week. The only time I didn't eat it was when I was pregnant. It's not a good idea to eat anything raw when you are pregnant. Anyway, I have never heard of tapeworms or roundworms in the brain. I understood that the first lives in our intestines and the latter lives inside of the dermis.

I believe that, in our part of the world, the worst danger is mercury in the fish.

Like I said before I eat it all the time and am not the worst for wear. Just make sure that you eat it in a reputable place.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Technically Sushi just means rice cake and doesn't necessarily mean raw fish. Sashimi is the fish you are refering to. As to any harmful effects from sashimi I don't think so. The nature of the tapeworm is that it attaches to the inside of your intestine and basically uses your food before you can, to exist in the brain wouldn't really be the best place for a tapeworm. As for your round worm, round worms are contracted from stepping in the wrong place out side, say on dog droppings.

Personally I have eaten sushi, with and without sashimi, many times and my mother is from Hawaii where there are many Japaneze decendents and yes sushi. There is nothing inheritly bad about consuming animals from the water as there have been many cultures and civilizations that have thrived from this. Besides if this killer worm is as dangerous as the email suggests than every fish, crustacian, and sea mammal would be dead. There are ways to make any food dangerous however. If the fish they used sat out for five hours at room temperature then you'd have a problem. There is one thing that I know of that is linked to sea food in general and that is mercury poisoning, though I know very little about it so I suggest that you look it up.

Answer 4

As long as you go to a reputable restaurant I think you shoud be okay with eating sushi and sashimi. I would be wary with eating sushi and sashimi which is "on sale". Always check out the display if the ingredients they use are fresh and if they actually use the ones on display. If the fish meat look sick and has a fishy smell then don't order it. If it looks fresh but they grab something else hidden in another container then cancel your order. Here's a link on how to determine if sushi fish is fresh.

Answer 5

First of all tapewroms, roundworms can be found in all meats, so fish is not the only culprate, the raw nature of any food, meat, chicken, pork or fish increase the probability that you will get sick from it, cooking kills off alot of the worms and other stuff. But if you eat a medium rare steak or hamburger you run the same risk, pork even higher than fish. If are going to worry about all foods that can make you sick, you wouldn't eat at all. Most fish used in suschi has been frozen for transport and this doesn't kill anything.

Answer 6

ME BEING JAPANESE and considering almost all people in Japan eat sushi, it IS safe. Would you stop eating poultry because of slight risk to samonella poisoning or stop eating beef because of slight risk to mad cows disease? The answer is no.

HOWEVER, I recommend that you DO NOT eat sushi at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You have to be suspicious of fish quality at those places.
I would also AVOID so-called sushi restaurants that are NOT run by AUTHENTIC JAPANESE PEOPLE. We all know how unhygenic Chinese people are.
Me, having worked at a Japanese restaurant when I was in school, know for a FACT that all fish were cut into long strips and then wrapped in Saran Wrap and then FROZEN.
Our FRESH FISH were all frozen at one point. Nothing was FRESH, FRESH.
Tapeworms can be found in any food obtained from water but also from fecal matter, especially in areas where people do have tapeworms and they excrete the eggs in their feces and re-introduce them into the food chain. That's one of the reasons you have to cook pork well. You cannot cook pork rare or medium. They are likely to have tapeworms.

Answer 7

In America, the recommend that you don't eat raw fish more than one or two times a month, because our systems are not used to it, unlike the Japanese, who can tolerate it more. You can ask you doctor, but as long as the sushi comes from a clean, established place, you should be fine.

AKA don't make your own sushi with fish you catch

Answer 8

I've been eating sushi and sashimi for years and have yet to encounter a problem.

The only thing you need to watch out for is mercury levels and making sure the fish is kept properly refrigerated.

Answer 9

sushi is very safe to eat.. just make sure the place where you are getting it is clean and a well known place to eat. Ask people around in ur town of a good sushi place... this will help you find the nicer ones.

Answer 10

coaching of the sushi/sashimi could be suited, yet whilst saved incorrectly, this is going to produce micro organism. additionally, ingesting too plenty sushi (specifically of the tuna variety) provides you with extreme lead count variety in the bloodstream.