The Lemon Fool

Not for the squeamish, this. So don't read the following if you haven't had your breakfast yet.

Cod worm. There, I've said it. (I did warn you, didn't I?) Last night, this two inch little brown bootlace in my breaded haddock fillet put my wife right off her supper, even though it was twice dead. (Once from having been frozen, and again from having been thoroughly cooked.) But I think it might be a while before I eat sushi again?

Apparently, they're everywhere these days, in all kinds of white fish and particularly in herrings, which at least have the decency to be brown so that you don't see them. I gather that they used to be a largely East Pacific thing, but that they've spread somewhat these days and now include Pacific salmon (although not the farmed variety).

The good news, they're harmless to humans as long as they're properly dead. But some folk have had gut infestations from them, which is why sushi is always frozen for 72 hours. (Er, allegedly. )

I wish I could say I'm reassured that fish-restaurant chefs are expert at "candling" worms out of freshly caught raw fish, but I doubt that the same is true of the supermarket processors who just bundle whatever comes out of the trawlers' freezers into their breaded/battered foods?

Oh well, I'll get over it in time, I suppose. Was I just unlucky? Please, somebody, tell me I was? And tell my wife as well?

BJ

Yuk
you sure you're ok?

bungeejumper wrote:Not for the squeamish, this. So don't read the following if you haven't had your breakfast yet.

Cod worm. There, I've said it. (I did warn you, didn't I?) Last night, this two inch little brown bootlace in my breaded haddock fillet put my wife right off her supper, even though it was twice dead. (Once from having been frozen, and again from having been thoroughly cooked.) But I think it might be a while before I eat sushi again?

Apparently, they're everywhere these days, in all kinds of white fish and particularly in herrings, which at least have the decency to be brown so that you don't see them. I gather that they used to be a largely East Pacific thing, but that they've spread somewhat these days and now include Pacific salmon (although not the farmed variety).

The good news, they're harmless to humans as long as they're properly dead. But some folk have had gut infestations from them, which is why sushi is always frozen for 72 hours. (Er, allegedly. )

I wish I could say I'm reassured that fish-restaurant chefs are expert at "candling" worms out of freshly caught raw fish, but I doubt that the same is true of the supermarket processors who just bundle whatever comes out of the trawlers' freezers into their breaded/battered foods?

Oh well, I'll get over it in time, I suppose. Was I just unlucky? Please, somebody, tell me I was? And tell my wife as well?

BJ

No, I'm afraid you weren't. It happened to me, although in a haddock fishcake. I've not touched either since. I made the mistake of doing some research on the internet. Apparently/allegedly (take your pick) in processing plants they hold the fish up to ultra violet light to detect them...so prevalent are they. Urgh

Oh my Cod! Sound the alarm!

You want to fry it in garlic butter, of course. With a drop of white wine if you want to splash out. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I did a degree in marine biology and had to stop cooking fish for many years because I could always find a worm.
I no longer look

just did my weekly shop
got some fresh fish
might eat it blindfolded after reading this

I read a news article many years ago about a woman finding a cod worm in her 'Filet of Fish' burger
I had a nightmare that night
I'd bought a burger and, for some reason lifted up the bun
The whole thing was a cod worm, coiled up like a Cumberland Ring, and it lifted its wee head and looked at me....

AleisterCrowley wrote:I read a news article many years ago about a woman finding a cod worm in her 'Filet of Fish' burger
I had a nightmare that night
I'd bought a burger and, for some reason lifted up the bun
The whole thing was a cod worm, coiled up like a Cumberland Ring, and it lifted its wee head and looked at me....

What did it taste like?

If you batter it, it will stop it lifting it's head

So this is what they mean when they speak of the piece of cod that passeth all understanding!

This thread has really upset me so I have stopped eating fish other than tinned tuna.

However, is it "safe" to eat farmed fish such as salmon, trout and seabass please?

feder1 wrote:This thread has really upset me so I have stopped eating fish other than tinned tuna.

However, is it "safe" to eat farmed fish such as salmon, trout and seabass please?

How do you know that tinned tuna is "safe"?

I suspect that many things we eat are contaminated in some way. I seem to remember reading some years ago about the number of spiders and whatever in our bread.

Best not to think about it

--kiloran

kiloran wrote:I suspect that many things we eat are contaminated in some way. I seem to remember reading some years ago about the number of spiders and whatever in our bread.

In the USA the Food and Drug Administration offers tables of limits on foreign particles in food in the catchily named Food Defect Levels Handbook
https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredients-ad ... s-handbook
I remember looking up acceptable levels of insect matter and rodent filth in peanut butter.
Fish are about halfway down the linked handbook. Don't read any of it...

This is the first time I've looked at the "Food" section and I'm never going to look at it again !!

Sue

I wonder how long before the level of plastics in fish begins killing us.
It's a race with climate change.

Is there a diet that omits fish but not meat?

V8

88V8 wrote:I wonder how long before the level of plastics in fish begins killing us.
It's a race with climate change.

Is there a diet that omits fish but not meat?

V8

It's not just in fish, there's microplastics in our water, air and plenty of food stuffs.
some thoughts and extracts from studies here https://www.nationalgeographic.com/envi ... every-year

kempiejon wrote:It's not just in fish, there's microplastics in our water, air and plenty of food stuffs.
some thoughts and extracts from studies here https://www.nationalgeographic.com/envi ... every-year

Used to read Nat Geographic at the dentist, there's a lot of good stuff in there.
I noticed People who meet their recommended water intake through tap water ingest an additional 4,000 plastic particles annually, while those who drink only bottled water ingest an additional 90,000, the study found.
Always thought bottled water was overrated.

I see the greatest source of microplastics is debris from washing clothes. Another activity that's overrated.

V8

88V8 wrote:People who meet their recommended water intake through tap water ingest an additional 4,000 plastic particles annually, while those who drink only bottled water ingest an additional 90,000, the study found.[/i]
Always thought bottled water was overrated.
V8

Bottled water fact

Evian is an anagram of...


Naive

I remember buying some fresh fish fillets from Lobster Place/Chelsea Market in Manhattan. Got them home and 'all these little blood red worms were standing up and waving hello'. I e-mailed the shop and their reply was roughtly 'Oh that's normal, we do screen each fillet over a lamp but some get through and don't worry they're harmless. We're happy to refund your purchase if you wish though'.

Unless you're catching your own fish I wouldn't think about it, even then if you cook it properly... do you think these things thrive in just fish? Oh then, with my former parasitologists hat on you better be really afraid

DiamondEcho wrote:I remember buying some fresh fish fillets from Lobster Place/Chelsea Market in Manhattan. Got them home and 'all these little blood red worms were standing up and waving hello'......with my former parasitologists hat on you better be really afraid

No problem, just baste them with Ivermectin. It will clear out your tapeworms at the same time

V8

DiamondEcho wrote:I remember buying some fresh fish fillets from Lobster Place/Chelsea Market in Manhattan. Got them home and 'all these little blood red worms were standing up and waving hello'.

I hope you waved back
uuugghhhhh