That yummy fish may carry a dangerous passenger
the eggs are inside the intestines, they develop into larvae, which are mobile and can migrate out of the intestines and form cysts in other tissues such as the liver and lungs, Huang said.
Ingesting larvae cysts from meat would lead to the development of adult tapeworms in the intestines.
The symptoms of intestinal infection include nausea, weakness, loss of appetite, diarrhea and weight loss.
If the larvae migrate out of the intestines into other tissues, they can cause headaches and seizures.
The majority of meats like pork and lamb are served fully cooked. But raw beef and venison are sometimes made into tartar/carpaccio dishes, and steak is often eaten medium rare to rare, so using quality-assured ingredients is a must in preventing infections.
Summer is a time for eating fish, shrimp and crabs, and these present a high risk of parasitic infections if not cooked or handled properly.
Drunken shrimp and drunken crab are two staple Shanghainese dishes, soaking live river shrimp or crabs in hard liquor. As delicious as they are, these kinds of dishes can infect people with parasites very easily.
And the crowd favorite, crayfish, also carry parasites like lung fluke and liver fluke.
In addition to fully cooking freshwater crustaceans, it’s important to discard the crayfish heads, where the majority of bacteria and parasites gather.
Bullfrog is another popular delicacy and favored by many for its tender, juicy meat.
But they can carry many kinds of parasites and it’s crucial to select the artificially bred animals.
“The environment the bullfrogs live in is very important,” said Huang.
“If it’s contaminated by the faeces of parasite carriers, there’re also risks.”
Eating snake is even more dangerous, according to Huang, because they carry a large number of parasites.
Cold snake skin salad is a popular dish, but Huang suggests avoiding it because the skin is only very briefly cooked in hot water — not long enough to kill the parasites.
Apart from meat and fish, parasites are also found in vegetables, most notably the water chestnut and (Manchurian wild rice), as aquatic plants can be contaminated by parasites in the water. “Also, don’t drink unboiled water, the common parasites include cryptosporidium and giardia, which cannot be filtered or killed by chlorine,” said Huang.