The seafood lover that's hopefully not actually IN you

October 2, 2008 7:53 AM

Worms in your fresh fish?We've heard about them in sushi for years, but stories are on the rise of creeping condiments from supermarkets. The FAO says they're actually not uncommon though "worms are unsightly and consumers naturally object to their presence". One theory holds that they're on the rise due to cost-driven onshore processing. Icked-out consumers have been posting videos on YouTube 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, while others have sought solace in discussion forums. But the good news? Cook thoroughly and you'll be safe. Me, I'll be sticking to enchiladas.
posted by crapmatic (71 comments total)

I got a package of fish from the Piggly-Wiggly in 1974 that had a worm in it. Are there still any Piggly-Wigglies?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:58 AM on October 2, 2008

Ugh. Oh God.
Nature can be delicious, but sometimes it can be really disgusting.
Now, what are the chances of finding live worms in five fresh fish?
posted by cimbrog at 8:00 AM on October 2, 2008

Yuck! There's fish on my worm!

Once again, begging for the NSFB (Not Safe for Breakfast tag).
posted by cjorgensen at 8:01 AM on October 2, 2008

Worms? In my fresh fish?

It's more likely than you think.

(no really it actually is)
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 8:05 AM on October 2, 2008

Are there still any Piggly-Wigglies?

There certainly are, but with better health inspection at both farms and packing plants the piggies wiggle much less often.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:06 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I eat nothing from the sea.

Nothing. From. The sea.
posted by Ynoxas at 8:06 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Fucking yuck to that.

I will still continue to eat everything from the sea however, because that's where god hid all the delicious shit. I will just continue to pretend that the worms, boogers, filth and botulism are only in other peoples food.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:12 AM on October 2, 2008 [14 favorites has favorites]

Am I the only one here not particularly freaked out and disgusted by that? I'm with the guy in the first link, just pick those worms out and cook the fish. No worries.
posted by electricinca at 8:21 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I disagree, they're protein right, just cook the fuckers!
posted by Wilder at 8:23 AM on October 2, 2008

The first time I ever caught a bass worth eating I was filleting it, proud that I was not squeamish about the job, when I cut through the stomach (did I mention I didn’t quite know how to fillet a fish) and a whole mass of wiggly little worms popped out. It took me about eight years before I went fishing again and now when I fillet them I’m careful not to go anywhere near the stomach.

Ever since that scene in The Lost Boys (“Are you enjoying your maggots?”) and a couple of prison movies (Bad Boys, Shawshank Redemption) I’ve had a huge fear of finding worms in my food. So far the closest I’ve come was finding a steamed slug on my plate from some of my wife’s garden-fresh broccoli. Funny how I’ve happily eaten escargot and conch yet an unexpected slug in my broccoli put me into dry heaves.
posted by bondcliff at 8:24 AM on October 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

"Cook thoroughly and you'll be safe." Or just ignore thoroughly, and you'll also be safe. These things are common and more or less harmless.
posted by beniamino at 8:25 AM on October 2, 2008

What are the chances that a parasite can live in both a saltwater fish and a human? Nobody in their right mind eats raw freshwater fish.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:26 AM on October 2, 2008

OK, so I read the last link. I'm still eating sushi.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:27 AM on October 2, 2008

Cook thoroughly and you'll be safe.

Not from cod worms.
posted by amro at 8:28 AM on October 2, 2008

I am going to barf. THANKS METAFILTER
posted by Damn That Television at 8:31 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nobody in their right mind eats raw freshwater fish.

Yeah, who would do that?
posted by Pollomacho at 8:32 AM on October 2, 2008

There needs to be a "Oh fucking gross I did not want to read that" flag.
posted by Caduceus at 8:39 AM on October 2, 2008

Yeah, who would do that?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:32 AM on October 2

The same people who build museums for parasites?
posted by Pastabagel at 8:41 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have a very reputable fish monger and I eat his wild sushi raw that he gets flown in daily. I asked him about the worms since they do spend their early life in fresh water and he told me that I have a better chance of dying in a crash on the way home than any problems that would develop from eating worms in the salmon. I've been doing it off and on for over 2 years now and haven't encountered a problem - although I have lost some weight! Thank you tapeworm!
posted by any major dude at 8:41 AM on October 2, 2008

As a total aside from the FPP, I showed my wife some of the links last night and she was astounded, because growing up in coastal Belize she had cleaned hundreds of fresh fish over the years and had never seen any worms. Not that they don't have any, of course, but it kind of jives with the idea that the worms don't start having a party all through the fish meat until they figure out that the fish has been dead awhile.
posted by crapmatic at 8:43 AM on October 2, 2008

Oh man, I was sitting with the boss of a restaurant on the Upper East Side in his office by the kitchen. The chef called the boss over to look at something, I came too -and lived to regret it. They were laughing uproariously. Apparently the worms in monk fish are very common, routine and the chef just sautees it with the fish, "the customers don't know". But this particular worm was so bionic, it survived being sauteed and was still wriggling, even after the fish was thoroughly cooked. unnngg. And it was a big worm, like maybe around 5 inches.
posted by nickyskye at 8:46 AM on October 2, 2008

I read somewhere that worms are very common in certain kinds of fish, and that a huge part of fish processing is picking the worms out.
posted by archagon at 8:48 AM on October 2, 2008

While I understand the squick factor of worm-infested edibles, and I get that parasites could -possibly- invade your guts, is it really that big a deal? Could you follow up a potentially worm-laden meal with a few shots of tequila or some other wormicidic*, but human friendly digestif?
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:49 AM on October 2, 2008

A few worms to be picked out of your raw cod? That's nothing compared to the sea lice and persistent organic pollutants in your farmed salmon.

(Seriously, if you're a fish-only vegetarian who lectures meateaters on ethics - or just a fan of sushi - you owe it to yourself and the ocean's future to read Bottomfeeder.)
posted by gompa at 8:51 AM on October 2, 2008

I'm sure there's something living in my asshole right now that if magnified a couple thousand times would look like a raging six headed Godzilla on PCP so I just shrug, look the other way and keep on chuggin' down the road when it comes this sort of thing.
posted by The Straightener at 8:56 AM on October 2, 2008 [8 favorites has favorites]

This is a Jewish fish story. Or more accurately a Jewish fishworm story.
posted by Auden at 8:59 AM on October 2, 2008

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:59 AM on October 2, 2008

I asked him about the worms since they do spend their early life in fresh water and he told me that I have a better chance of dying in a crash on the way home than any problems that would develop from eating worms in the salmon.

Of course he was trying to sell you fish. If you asked a Ford dealer about the Explorer's rollover problems he'd probably tell you that you have a better chance of getting fish parasites than rolling over.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:59 AM on October 2, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Worms in your fresh fish?

Well duh, how do you think the fish got caught in the first place? Morans.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:00 AM on October 2, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

While I understand the squick factor of worm-infested edibles, and I get that parasites could -possibly- invade your guts, is it really that big a deal?

It's mostly just gross. I've found bugs in all sorts of food before -- little microscopic moving black flecks that live in the center of onions, tiny flies curled into lettuce leaves, and once, an entire colony of worms (~~WORMS!!!~~) that hatched in a jar of dried red chile. The latter was unsalvageable (and freaked me the fuck out so much that I'd have thrown it away even if it hadn't been), but usually you can get away with just washing/picking them out.

I haven't encountered the fish worms, but I do eat sushi on a regular basis, including salmon... I figure it's not nearly as dangerous as any number of things I do each day, and a far sight more delicious. I'll let you guys know if the doctor ever asks me to bring in an apple and a cookie.
posted by vorfeed at 9:03 AM on October 2, 2008

Pollomacho, you're right in the one case of King salmon, which are freshwater, but Steelheads are only used for sushi if they are smoked. Those other Salmon are just passing through from the saltwater they grow in.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:03 AM on October 2, 2008

But the worms are the best part!

Nom nom nom.
posted by unSane at 9:05 AM on October 2, 2008

gompa, I just get by with the wallet guide to sustainable fish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Mostly.

I have had worms in my fish once, some Dolly Varden brought home from Alaska. Put me right off Dolly Varden. But I get much more grossed out by the horrors of the factory farm than what naturally exists in the cold, clean waters off Alaska.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:07 AM on October 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

On the rise? Is sushi becoming less safe?

Will be checking these links -- especially bottomfeeder -- after lunch.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:10 AM on October 2, 2008

Oh my god, these anecdotes are horrible. I like to think I have a strong stomach and all, but oh my god. It's even worse than that recent Cat and Girl with the worm suicide.

I think the only way I could be more freaked out right now is if someone made a FPP about centipedes. Oh god now I'm thinking about centipedes.

If anyone needs me I'll be huddled under my desk thinking about puppies.
posted by giraffe at 9:14 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ugh. I was just checking recent activity, and through it, the last Palin thread, and read:

Hence the weird tangent about Alaska not being a foreign country: she figured that the line of questioning was going to lead to some, in her mind, snobby conclusion about her reading habits, which surely was connected somehow to city slickers thinking rural people are dumb, but it only revealed her as defensive and wormy when cornered.

*shudder*

Worm thread, you have ruined the internets.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:17 AM on October 2, 2008

A good sushi chef gets up at 5 in the morning and goes to the fish market and knows how to buy fish. Don't go to the kind of places that have it delivered from a distributor.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:23 AM on October 2, 2008

Nothing new here. My mom told me that when she was little grandma would go down to the Fulton fish market in NYC, take the fish home and cover it in salt and put it in the icebox. In a few hours all the worms would have crawled out. She'd pick them out, was the salt off the fish and cook it.

That would have been like 60-75 years ago.
posted by lordrunningclam at 9:23 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I worked at a seafood restaurant in New England one summer, and noticed worms when cutting scrod fillets for fish 'n chips. (Scrod is sort of a generic catch-all for young Atlantic cod or haddock - the cheap whitefish of the day, basically.)

I was pretty freaked out, but the owner explained it to me as follows: "The worms have been eating this fish their whole lives, they taste like the fish, and they're the same color as the fish. Once the fish is cooked, you can't see or taste them. What the customer doesn't know won't hurt them."

Other fun things I learned at that restaurant

• See if you can catch your fishmonger re-zeroing the scale after they weigh your lobster to hide the $0.20 of extra water that drained off in the pan.
• Cooked jumbo shrimp stolen from the walk-in tastes far more delicious than the non-pilfered variety.
• When you scale fish, the scales go flying everywhere. Fish scales stick to your skin and raise welts as they dry. They're hard to get off your skin, but even harder to get off eyeballs.

In related news, I'm having great fun reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential right now.
posted by argh at 9:24 AM on October 2, 2008

Well, one bit of reassurance: "Worms in large tuna (such as yellowfin, bluefin, and big-eye) are exceedingly rare" and "parasites are virtually nonexistent in tuna meat sold fresh in the U.S." (source). So that tuna fish sandwich ought to be perfectly free of surprises.
posted by crapmatic at 9:24 AM on October 2, 2008

How about swordfish? I like it fine. But my seafood purveyor, when he goes out to dinner, won't eat it. He's seen too many of those 3ft-long parasitic worms that riddle the fish's flesh. You see a few of these babies - and we all do - and you won't be tucking into swordfish anytime soon. Anthony Bourdain
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:26 AM on October 2, 2008

Jinx on argh
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:27 AM on October 2, 2008

I eat nothing from the sea.

Nothing. From. The sea.

Not even chicken?
posted by inigo2 at 9:34 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

How about swordfish?

I'm usually NOT a fish eater, but a few years back I was attempting to eat fish 2 or 3 times a week. I almost always opted for swordfish because the texture and flavor is very unfishlike. It became routine to pull the worms out of the supermarket fillets. I used chopsticks and puuuuulled slowly so as not to break the worms. Yeah, gross, but then to me, all fish is gross.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:40 AM on October 2, 2008

I'm going to recommend one of my favorite science books of the past few years:

Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures [by Carl Zimmer ]
posted by Auden at 9:42 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Pollomacho wrote:

Of course he was trying to sell you fish. If you asked a Ford dealer about the Explorer's rollover problems he'd probably tell you that you have a better chance of getting fish parasites than rolling over.

Well this fishmonger also drives that Ford and eats the salmon raw himself. I'm the first to admit that I ignore the dangers because I'm an addict. I'm just so grossed out from everything I've read about farmed salmon I'm convinced my odds of getting sick from wild salmon are actually lower. I mean, it can't be more dangerous than eating a hamburger can it?
posted by any major dude at 9:43 AM on October 2, 2008

I mean, it can't be more dangerous than eating a hamburger can it?

A raw hamburger?
posted by Pollomacho at 9:46 AM on October 2, 2008

no, cooked. I'm not just talking about the feces and hormones - also the artery hardening saturated fat and cholesterol. At least salmon is known as one of the more healthy foods on the planet.
posted by any major dude at 9:50 AM on October 2, 2008

A good sushi chef gets up at 5 in the morning and goes to the fish market and knows how to buy fish. Don't go to the kind of places that have it delivered from a distributor.
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:23 AM on October 2

So, in other words, don't eat Sushi unless you live in a large coastal city.

Which, of course, is fine by me, since I eat nothing from the sea.

Nothing. No fish, shrimp, crab, clam, lobster, squid, or anything else.

NOTHING.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:58 AM on October 2, 2008

Never mind the heavy metals.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:58 AM on October 2, 2008

I stopped in the middle of this thread to go get lunch. Squid salad and assorted sushi. Tuna, salmon, shrimp, and even eel. I've got an apple I was saving for a snack later. I kept pulling imaginary worms out of my sushi and trying to transplant them to my apple. They'd wail, "Dude, what's this? We're supposed to thrive in living animal flesh, not some sugar-laden water-logged wad of plant matter!" I relented, and told the worms that they could live in me. And so they did.

Yum.
posted by adipocere at 10:26 AM on October 2, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

I'm sure there's something living in my asshole right now that if magnified a couple thousand times would look like a raging six headed Godzilla on PCP so I just shrug, look the other way and keep on chuggin' down the road when it comes this sort of thing.

Christ, what an..

Wait, what?
posted by Mayor West at 10:32 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Which, of course, is fine by me, since I eat nothing from the sea.

If I ever need to crashland on a doomed Orbital, I'm going to crash near you.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:37 AM on October 2, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

having just watched the first disc of "House", the idea of parasite worms is especially chilling right now.
posted by dubold at 10:44 AM on October 2, 2008

People who eat nothing from the sea: does this include sea vegetables? And sea salt?

I'm a vegetarian. I enjoy inauthentic veggie sushi for boring white people. Will there be undelicious worms crawling around in my sweet potato tempura roll?

Ugh. Everything I think about in conjunction with this post is ruined forever! Even unicorns!
posted by giraffe at 10:47 AM on October 2, 2008

I have a friend who spent a summer working for a fishing company in Alaska. One of her first jobs was to inspect newly caught fish for worms. Any be-wormed fish she saw, she threw into a pile that would be used in fishsticks, fish patties, and other artificially-shaped fish products.

So I thought I was being smart by avoiding fishsticks. Now I think I'll just avoid food.

Although I imagine wormy food has got to be one of those unpleasant realities of life that has dogged us throughout our history.
posted by bibliowench at 10:58 AM on October 2, 2008

If you're not grossed out enough yet, here's the classic, lovingly illustrated poopin'-out-a-tapeworm story from fray.com.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 11:02 AM on October 2, 2008

I will admit to being a disgusting proto-human type and say that...I don't really care. The idea of unknowingly consuming a stray worm, raw or cooked, live or dead, really doesn't bother me. So I'll happily continue eating my sushi and my cod - though maybe I won't look at it very closely.
posted by peachfuzz at 11:07 AM on October 2, 2008

When you prepare unicorn, all you do is sprinkle gryphon urea on the meat and bury it in a mushroom circle for 3 days. Never had a worm.
posted by everichon at 11:12 AM on October 2, 2008 [6 favorites has favorites]

I always thought unicorns freely gave their meat up when asked nicely. A steak just pops out of its back onto your plate and everything grows back in the blink of an eye. A rack of ribs takes a little longer though.
posted by giraffe at 11:21 AM on October 2, 2008

You are living in a fairyland, giraffe.
posted by everichon at 11:28 AM on October 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

giraffe: "I always thought unicorns freely gave their meat up when asked nicely. A steak just pops out of its back onto your plate and everything grows back in the blink of an eye. A rack of ribs takes a little longer though."

You're thinking of the shmoo. Just don't think of a worm when you think of the shmoo, and you'll be all set.

And: EAT MOAR WORMZ KTHX
posted by not_on_display at 11:35 AM on October 2, 2008

Newsflash: Nature is not sterile.
posted by Authorized User at 12:18 PM on October 2, 2008

Bottom feeding fish, always have worms, and that is why, traditionally they are fried. Fried Cod, and Catfish, are pretty much standards. Fish that are nearly always breaded are usually fish that carry worms. This is not news, it is nice that people are looking at what they eat.

The Japanese fish markets are peopled with expert fishermen, who deal in tuna and have for generations. They know how to deliver worm-free cold water fish, it has to do with flash freezing and the care taken in fishing cold waters.

Warm water fish=worms. Extra protein.
posted by Oyéah at 1:10 PM on October 2, 2008

This is why I'm into entophagy.

"There's a worm in my cricket? Who cares?! I'm eating crickets!"
posted by infinitywaltz at 1:14 PM on October 2, 2008

Entomophagy, even.
posted by infinitywaltz at 1:14 PM on October 2, 2008

I'm not surprised by this in the least. My college Biology teacher told me that incidents of parasitism have risen dramatically since sushi became a phenomena in America in the 80's. I know, I know, correlation and causation and all that, but this guy has a PhD, so I'll take his word on the matter.
posted by lekvar at 1:29 PM on October 2, 2008

Newsflash: Nature is not sterile.

...but if I have my way, it will be. Blistering storms of cobalt-60 are in your future.

Well, everyone's future, actually. Die, you filthy organic dirt-babies!
posted by aramaic at 2:16 PM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

giraffe writes "I think the only way I could be more freaked out right now is if someone made a FPP about centipedes. Oh god now I'm thinking about centipedes. "

A far as FPPs go it can be oh so much, much, worse.
posted by Mitheral at 2:29 PM on October 2, 2008

Meh. Fish hobbyists know that most of their pets, if untreated, are carriers of usually harmless worms (generally nematodes). When your pet comes down with a case of worms-out-the-butt (or gills, or sometimes they just die and you do a necropsy to find them in the flesh), it's not because they suddenly appeared, usually, it's because other circumstances made your fish vulnerable to a sudden population explosion. I'm talking another infection, stress, etc. etc.

Coincidentally, I'm dosing my betta Grendel with Prazi-Pro tonight... sadly, he's a perpetually fragile little dude, so I have to dose him regularly or suddenly he's losing weight and not pooping. Last year he was in a bad way and I had to order pig dewormer from a vet supply - have you ever tried to adjust a dose of medication meant for several hundred porcine pounds down to a couple dozen grams of betta? Little fishy bastard.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that this doesn't surprise me at all. I will concede that this has put me off of wanting to cook fish, though. I'm pretty good with gross stuff as long as I don't have to deal with the gross part. Give me the swordfish steak (well, actually, we shouldn't be eating swordfish - it's at the top of the food chain and extremely vulnerable to overfishing right now - so take that figuratively) after it's off the grill.
posted by bettafish at 3:03 PM on October 2, 2008

Is that a worm in your codpiece?
posted by dawson at 3:20 PM on October 2, 2008